


three days

by deplorable_teacup



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi, im sorry i made allura a villain type figure, pidge is the main target of problems, pidge swears sometimes, there's a kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 22:59:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13890936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deplorable_teacup/pseuds/deplorable_teacup
Summary: It started with a book, made from alien materials that Pidge was insistent didn't belong on Earth. The visions start out small, like an overlay to their life before being blinked away. Then it grows, and they realize there's more to it. It's resolved in three days and Pidge is struggling for answers.





	three days

**Author's Note:**

> so!!! quick note, this au popped up outta nowhere and i didn't have any intention of making this fucked up weird timeline fuckery that i happened to give
> 
> Matt owns a bookstore where he gave Shiro a job, and he runs it as both an online store and a regular store. Shiro is there from around 7 am to sometimes as late as 10 pm. Matt is in the store the other part of the time and it's closed on Sundays, but otherwise open 24 hours.
> 
> Pidge's job alongside Keith and Lance is for a game company that support a variety of indie games and Pidge is in charge of number crunching and finding basic flaws in code while testing the games. Lance helps, mainly during rush times, with designs and the aesthetics. Keith mainly helps with finding bugs, but he's particularly skilled with finding the really difficult ones. He's also in charge of reading over the submitted bugs reported by beta testers and determining whether it's a bug worth passing over to Pidge to look over and try to copy.
> 
> Hunk's job is to be determined, but it is outside the company and he makes enough to be able to do quite a bit and he has a fairly flexible schedule sometimes.
> 
> over all, its a really weird au that i have no idea how come to fruition, and its for a friend of mine because i wanted to indulge their shidge love and welp this wound up being way longer than i expected lmao
> 
> also that mature is like just in case but pidge is 20, shiro is 27, hunk is 23, keith is 24, lance is 23, and matt is 25

Pidge let out a sigh as they walked out of the rain, going into their favorite store. Of course, they wouldn’t admit to it being their favorite, but it was. It was a small bookstore run by their brother Matt. They’d started coming to it almost every day since they’d met the help Matt had hired.

 

“Oh! Katie! It’s so good to see you!” They grimaced slightly at hearing their birth name. It wasn’t something they’d gotten too comfortable with, so they always used a childhood nickname when it came down to it. “Shoot, I meant Pidge. Matt always calls you Katie, so I mess up sometimes. Sorry about that.”

 

“It’s fine. You know that you’ve made the mistake, what more could I ask?” They ask sarcastically, putting their umbrella in the bucket Matt always put out on rainy days. “How has today been?” It was just a general conversation starter, but the groan he let out in response startled them. “That bad?”

 

“No… Well, kind of. My old friend, Keith, wound up catching me here. He was so confused when he saw me that he had to ask if the place had changed owners. I was so insulted he hadn’t recognized me! We text each other pretty often, but apparently he comes in all the time whenever Matt is usually here. I honestly couldn’t believe he had forgotten me! We are still so close, but I guess he didn’t forget me, outright… You should’ve seen how surprised he was when I had told him it was me!”

 

Pidge let out a snort, already up at the counter. “I bet it was the hair, even Matt had to take a moment after you bleached it. I recognized you without a problem, but I recognize a face before the hair really registers.” Shiro huffed a laugh. “Did you guys find any other old books?”

 

“Actually, we found this really weird one recently. We can’t sell it, but I’m sure Matt wouldn’t mind letting you read it while you’re here.” Pidge got that twinkle in their eyes that Shiro loved to see. Out of everyone, they were the one Shiro looked forward to seeing every day.

 

“Do you mind if I sit back there with you?” Pidge’s voice is somewhat quiet, almost unsure about the question.

 

“I don’t mind. There’s a really comfortable set of bean bag chairs back here that Matt likes to use for naps while we’re both here. Really, he just doesn’t always want to head upstairs to sleep. Feel free to get comfortable, I’ll get your umbrella and move it to the bucket back here.” Pidge nodded as they just slid over the counter, Shiro holding back a laugh as they did so. “Go ahead and get comfortable, I’ll get you the book.”

 

“Okay.” Pidge curled up on of the beanbags, almost staying entirely on the one. They kept their feet off of it, keeping them in the air as Shiro came over, book in hand. He handed it to them before asking a question.

 

“You want me to take those off for you?” They looked down at their feet before shrugging.

 

“If you want to.” Shiro was already bending down before they could really say they didn’t need to take them off. His fingers, despite being a bit clumsy, quickly worked through untying the boot laces. He slowly shimmied one boot off of Pidge’s foot and down off their calf. He did the same with the other, looking rather proud of himself when he looked down at the socks undisturbed upon Pidge’s feet. They were knee highs, but they sat high enough up that they might as well be thigh highs. 

 

“I didn’t even pull off your socks!” Pidge didn’t have the heart to tell him he really didn’t have to go through that effort since the bottoms of their shoes were kind of wet still, and they’d feel bad if he got any dirt on his hands from something like that.

 

“Good job.” Shiro beamed a smile before going back to sit at the counter, picking his own book back up. They looked over and saw black pages with white writing. It looked like a poetry book.

 

They redirected their attention the book Shiro had handed them, wiggling around a bit before opening it up. It looked like it was handwritten, but not too old. It had a scent different from the usual book scent you get, something a little bit off, but easily mistaken for it. The texture of the pages was also strange, as if it wasn’t made from the same things most paper is made out of. They took a moment to close the book and look over the cover. 

 

It looked like it was pretty well made but still hand made. She ran her fingers over the front, feeling the beautifully done stitch work on the cover. It was clearly embroidered, the design looked almost like it was actually letters in some alien language. 

 

Pidge took a moment, running a hand through their long hair. It had taken forever to grow it out, even if it was just to be able to braid something. Whenever they’d feel they were thinking too hard on something, they’d reach back and start braiding. It helped, surprisingly. 

 

Setting the book down on their thigh, they looked over at Shiro. He looked rather comfortable reading his book. His hair was pulled back in a small ponytail at the back of his head, the whitened hair that fluffed up over his forehead sat free from the ponytail. Pidge wasn’t kidding when they said the white stood out pretty clearly. Especially with the way he had his hair. 

 

“Wonder what Matt would think of this book…” Shiro muttered to himself, clearly not aware that he had said anything. Pidge spared him the embarrassment of having to explain anything about how he was thinking out loud. Instead, they stretched out, a small groan involuntarily leaving their throat. Shiro glanced back, catching their form stretched up as their features scrunched up slightly. He had already turned back to his book by the time they opened their eyes again, Pidge was none the wiser that he had looked over.

 

They turned their attention back to the strange book Shiro had given them. Their fingers gently dug into the cover, testing its give as they picked it up. It was fairly flexible and it seemed almost unaffected as they bent it. Taking a moment longer, they finally opened the book again.

 

As they investigated the book, they got more and more disconnected from their surroundings. Shiro glanced over every now and then, making sure they didn’t disappear somehow. He set his own book down, and got up to get something to snack on from their mini fridge. He paused in front of Pidge, realizing how absorbed into the book they were. 

 

“Hey.” Shiro crouched in front of them, hoping to get their attention. Their brows were pinched together showing how disgruntled they were. Shiro moved his right hand over the pages, noticing how Pidge’s eyes widened quickly before looking up at him. Their hands quickly dropped the book and grabbed his hand. After they blinked, he was more than aware of how they squished his hand. 

 

The intensity of their gaze surprised him, his lips staying sealed from it. “Weird…” They muttered as Shiro let them move his hand around. “I could’ve sworn…”

 

“Pidge?” Their gaze flicked up, eyes wide for a moment before they blinked, and their brows scrunched in confusion.

 

“My eyes must be playing tricks on me.” He tilted his head in confusion, clearly not sure what they were talking about. “Your arm looked different like… It didn’t look like it was human anymore. A really advanced prosthetic, that’s what I saw. Then your hair was short and there was a scar over your nose… Do you have any idea why I saw those things?”

 

“That’s what happened to me when I read that book. Except, it was with Matt and he looked completely different. His hair was longer, like he couldn’t be bothered to cut it. Then he didn’t have his glasses and there was a seriousness to his face I’d never seen. It was also very dark around him.” Pidge nodded, closing the book that had landed in their lap.

 

“We probably shouldn’t read this alone… If it’s actually the cause of these illusions… Who knows what else it could do…” Pidge spared a glance at it before setting it down on the beanbag next to them. A smile spread over their features as they looked back up at Shiro. “I prefer you, if I had to choose a Shiro. I like your long hair. You should let me braid it sometime.”

 

Shiro gave a smile in return, a light blush dusting his cheeks. “Maybe. Right now, I was going to get a snack from the mini fridge; do you want something?” 

 

“Sure.” They struggled with getting up a moment before noticing Shiro’s offered hand. “Thanks.” They take it, letting him help pull them up. Although, there was too much force behind the motion and Pidge wound up losing their balance. Shiro easily caught them, their frame already so small. Their fingers quickly dug into his arms, not wanting to fall. 

 

“You okay?” Pidge glanced up, seeing the scar on his nose again for a split second. Squeezing their eyes shut, they just leaned against him. “Pidge…?”

 

“I’m not crazy, and nor are you, so why did we see those things?” Shiro was clearly confused, but let them continue to lean against him.

 

“I wouldn’t know. Maybe we’re unique? Well, everyone is in their own way, but what if we’re unique in ways similar to each other? Or we were both just tired… Or a variety of other possibilities. I wouldn’t know, but I do know that it can be exhausting to just be alone all day for me… It’s probably exhausting to be wherever you are usually… Maybe, maybe we are crazy? I don’t know. What I do know is that crazy people normally do crazy things, and we haven’t done anything particularly crazy recently, right?”

 

Pidge snorted, slowly opening their eyes. “Thanks, Shiro.”

 

“Uh, call me Takashi.” They looked up at Shiro’s face, slightly confused. “We’ve never properly met. My name is Takashi Shirogane, and I’m from a Japanese-American family. Matt was my closest friend online, and he got me a job here when he started the place up. He didn’t even mention having you as a younger sibling until I mentioned you showing up a lot. Imagine my surprise when I realized I’d somehow wound up being friends with both Matt and you, separate of each other. I’m glad I met you, especially.” Pidge kind of just stared for a moment longer, inspecting the light blush that was spread over his cheeks.

 

A smile spread over their cheeks. “Thanks, Takashi.” The blush darkened, and Pidge’s smile grew slightly. “I’m glad you’ve trusted me enough to give me your full name. My birth name is Katie Holt, but I tend to introduce myself as Pidge. Whenever guys hit on me, I give them the name Pidge Gunderson and they usually back off. Though, when they ask for my number I give Matt’s. It’s funny to hear how upset he gets. If you want, I can give you my real number so we can actually maybe meet outside of Matt’s bookstore, if you’d like. Maybe then we won’t feel so crazy.”

 

Shiro gave a warm smile, nodding in response. “I’d like to have your number. Good thing I’m not trying some cheesy pick up line for it like losing mine.” They finally stopped leaning against him, letting him step back finally. He quickly stepped over to the counter where his laptop and the cash register sat. Upon closer inspection, Pidge noticed Shiro’s phone neatly tucked behind the cash register. He pulled it out, quickly unlocking it. He tapped a bit before handing it over to Pidge. “Feel free to add yourself.”

 

Pidge nodded before yanking out their own phone and doing the same for Shiro. “You too.” Exchanging their phones, they both added each other. Pidge even went through the extra effort of sending a message. The surprise on Shiro’s end was clear as Pidge’s phone vibrated in his hand. “Now, you’ve texted me, and we can be sure that at least I have your number. Maybe I’ll bug you outside the store sometime.”

 

“That’d be… nice.” Shiro gave another smile before returning their phone, getting his own back as well. “Maybe we can even meet up for like… food or something?”

 

“Food or something?” Pidge gave a grin, clearly teasing him. “How about we go get food from the fridge in the back?”

 

“Oh yeah, shit we were doing that.” Shiro ran a hand over his face, groaning. “Sorry about that. Yeah, let’s grab a snack.” Pidge merely smiled at his forgetfulness, letting him lead the way to the back room.

 

\---

 

Takashi 23:00

hey, you haven’t been by the bookstore today, something up?

 

Pidgey 23:05

sorry bit busy cant talk much right niw

 

Takashi 23:06

let me know when you can

 

Takashi 23:07

i’ll be here as long as you need

 

Pidgey 23:10

thnx

 

Shiro let out a sigh as he looked at the most recent text from Pidge. He wanted to ask what was up, see if they needed anything, but he couldn’t. He was already at home in the apartment he shared with Matt. He groaned as he ran a hand through his hair. If he was really paranoid, he’d think about how much time they took. Though, he knew better than to worry too much about the details.

 

“I wonder whether Matt would mind or not if I came back and kept him company…” Time slowly passes as he debates asking before he realized it was already midnight. Another sigh escaped him before he heard his phone go off. He almost jumped on it in his rush to see if Pidge had replied. He was worried after all.

 

Pidgey 00:05

sorry i was busy earlier

 

Pidgey 00:06

i was dealing with working out some numbers for the company cause somebody else did them wrong

 

Pidgey 00:06

they thought i was perfect to fix it real quick

 

Pidgey 00:07

real quick just happened to be a few hours longer than my shift and so at least im getting overtime tho i am a bit upset i didnt get to come and keep you company at the store

 

Takashi 00:10

you could keep me company here?

 

Pidgey 00:11

home that quiet?

 

Takashi 00:12

i should be sleeping, but i’m just a bit out of sorts right now

 

Pidgey 00:13

you live with matt right

 

Takashi 00:13

yeah

 

Pidgey 00:14

be there in five

 

Takashi 00:14

five?

 

There was no response and Shiro let out a sigh. It was late, but here he was getting company. Hopefully, Matt wouldn’t mind too much, but Pidge seemed to know where he was. If anything, Matt could consider it a nice surprise since Shiro had heard him complain about not seeing Pidge enough.

 

Without much of a thought, Shiro plopped back down on the couch. His legs shifted uncomfortably while waiting, refusing to look at his phone for the time. When it beeped, he was surprised to see it had only been five minutes, like Pidge had said it would be.

 

Pidgey 00:19

open the door im cold

 

Shiro got up and went to the door, relatively surprised to see Pidge standing there. He didn’t know why he hadn’t expected them to actually show up. “Let me in, please. My circulation is bad.” Shiro stepped aside, letting them in in the process. He shut the door, and locked it finally. Pidge had already made themself comfortable on the couch, taking up most of it.

 

Shiro came back, eyeing them as they wrapped up in the blanket Shiro had been in not a moment ago. “Any better?” Pidge looked up before shrugging. “I’ve been told I’m a human heater. Do you want to use my heat?” Pidge squinted at him before hopping off the couch, still wrapped up in the blanket, and clearly waited. Shiro sat down in the spot they had vacated; a huff of air left him as they hopped on his lap.

 

They wiggled around for a time until they were bundled up against his chest. “Now, I’m comfortable.” Shiro gave a hum for his response, turning his attention back to the old recording. Matt always let him record one show in its entirety, and he had chosen Ghost Adventures since they were a mix of just quiet enough for background noise and just interesting enough to actually watch. It was one of the quieter episodes.

 

Pidge was quietly bundled against his chest, and he had a feeling they had fallen asleep. He went to move, but Pidge clung sleepily to him. He knew better than to try to talk sense into someone who was asleep, so he just moved around on the couch until he was comfortable.

 

Pidge mumbled something in their unconscious state, too messy for Shiro to understand. He merely gave them a smile he knew they couldn’t see, full of affection, before he shut his own eyes.

 

Sleep drifted in and out of Pidge’s head, waking up almost everytime they moved to get comfortable. By the time they woke up, they were almost squished against the back of the couch by Shiro’s chest. Shiro’s warm arms had wound themselves around their chest, one hand held their shoulder, and the other lay warmly on their lower back.

 

They were surprised by how peacefully Shiro seemed to be sleeping considering they’d heard from Matt that he always had trouble sleeping properly. They never could understand why he had trouble sleeping, but some people just normally did. If anything, they were glad he was sleeping so peacefully.

 

They noticed his phone out of the corner of their eyes, wiggling just enough to grab it before realizing they were having some trouble breathing. They sat up, Shiro’s arms fallen around their waist. Without much of a thought, they lifted their shirt up. Their binder was still on. A quiet curse slipped under their breath, and they pulled off their shirt to properly get to it. It was somewhat painful to take off, but they could breathe easier once it was off despite their breasts now revealing themselves. They let out a sigh before slipping their shirt back on. Shiro was still asleep.

 

They slowly nuzzled back down, glad to not have work today, their own phone thoroughly abandoned on the end table as well. Shiro’s arms moved back to where they’d been before, and he seemed to cage himself around Pidge. There was something inherently protective about the gesture, and Pidge found themself relaxing against his chest again. Hopefully, he didn’t have work today either, it was a Sunday after all.

 

\---

 

Sunlight filtered into the room through their one window. It was a fairly long window, so the light reached pretty far usually. Matt opened the curtains on it, groaning at the brightness. He had opted to let Shiro sleep since he must have been fairly tired to sleep on the couch. 

 

He planted himself in the kitchen, pulling out some bacon from the fridge. Some eggs, milk, and a two liter of soda also came out. He never really made breakfast for the two of them, usually just shrugging the meal off. That didn’t mean he didn’t know how to make the average breakfast you’d find in a book, but it did mean he didn’t make it very often.

 

He figured the bacon was a good place to start as he pulled out a pan. It wasn’t long before the bacon was popping in the pan, threatening to bite him with the grease. Using a fork to turn over each piece, he hummed quietly. Movement on the couch got his attention, and his eyes drifted to the couch across the room. The brown hair that showed up was not what he expected. 

 

“Katie?” His voice was quiet as if he didn’t believe he wasn’t seeing a ghost. The long brown hair was parted with a small hand, revealing the face he’d grown up seeing. A thick grin sat on their face as they looked at their brother.

 

“What’s up, bro?” They asked it so casually, Matt was tempted to come over and hit them. They spared a glance down, a soft smile overtaking the grin. “I came to keep sleepyhead company. He was surprised when I knew where you guys lived.” Matt huffed out a sigh.

 

“You didn’t forget to take off your binder last night, did you?” Pidge gave a sheepish grin before redirecting their attention back to Shiro. A bit of drool slipped down his cheek, moistening his sleeve. They wiped off a bit of it, entertained as Shiro’s nose wriggled and his mouth squeezed shut before going back to that lax expression. 

 

“I did until around 5 in the morning. This guy was still asleep through it all as I had to take it off. I’m surprised he hasn’t woken up from how much I move around alone. I’m really more surprised he was okay with sleeping next to me.” Matt shrugged from the kitchen across the room.

 

“Let him sleep. Shiro usually goes to sleep as soon as he gets home so he gets enough sleep with his own habit of waking up. When he’s really exhausted, he comes back out here to the living room, and sleeps with Ghost Adventures on. He told me the sound of voices helps remind him he’s not alone.” Matt’s voice was fairly quiet. “I’m making some breakfast, if you want some.”

 

“Bacon? Toast? A nice cup of root beer?”

 

“You’ve got it, kid.” Matt went quiet again as he went to working on the food. From the few times he had made breakfast for him and Shiro, he knew what Shiro would want. With Matt busy, Pidge focused back on Shiro. His eyes squeezed as if they had been open before slivers of white showed, broken by slate hues and wide pupils.

 

“Morning, sleepyhead.” Shiro reached and rubbed one of his eyes before mirroring the motion with his other hand. Pidge snickered slightly as Shiro smudged the eyeliner from yesterday. It was pretty funny how confused he was, but he seemed to be happy to hear that snicker so early.

 

“You weren’t uncomfortable, were you?” He asked as he sat up, his arms comfortably resting around Pidge’s waist. Something was different from what he was used to seeing, but he couldn’t quite tell what it was.

 

“Just had forgotten to take off my binder, nothing you caused.” Shiro processed the words at such a slow speed that Pidge almost bust out laughing as realization quickly spread across his face.

 

“Oh. I, uh, I didn’t touch you inappropriately at all, did I? Please, tell me I didn’t… I don’t know how I get when I sleep next to people… My body tends to do what it wants while I sleep.” Pidge just shrugged and leaned back against the couch. It took him a moment before he noticed the smell of bacon. “Matt’s home. When did Matt get home?”

 

“I can hear you, Shiro.” Matt chastised from his spot at the stove. “I’m making all of us breakfast because I didn’t want to wake either of you up.” Matt stated it like it was obvious, but Pidge knew he was definitely unaware of their presence until they had sat up; although Shiro was obviously there.

 

Shiro took a moment before it registered that it was morning. “Shoot, I gotta brush my teeth.” He was up and off the couch before Pidge even realized it, shooting a glance to Matt.

 

“He’s very adamant about brushing his teeth. If you two were to date I’m sure he would make you brush yours as well.” The squawk that left Pidge was indignant as they pointedly flopped back against the couch loudly.

 

“Are you suggesting that Shiro is interested in me?” Normally, they would’ve said it very loudly, but it was almost a hiss with how quiet they got. “Like genuinely, think he’s interested in me?” They leaned over the arm of the couch, staring at him expectantly as their shirt hung from their frame. Lucky for Matt, they had a loose turtleneck on, so nothing really showed.

 

“He let you into our house and even wanted to have you for company. I’d say I’m surprised he’d choose you for company over me, but he does have a soft spot for cuties who like cryptids.” Pidge really did huff that time. They got up and walked over to the small area they called their kitchen. 

 

“First of all, he doesn’t know I like cryptids.”

 

“But he does know you’re our number one customer when it comes to those books over cryptids.” Pidge glares at Matt.

 

“Technically, I started buying them for Keith. He’s usually on my shift at the stupid place that can’t get their numbers right, but he usually stays until about midnight. I usually get off early enough to catch Shiro at the store. Now, he just borrows my cryptid books and will sometimes trade with me if he finds something I might be interested in.” Pidge huffed, stealing a slice of bacon.

 

“Hey! That was supposed to be Shiro’s!”

 

“If he really wants that piece, he’ll have to come and get it.” Matt noticed Shiro standing just outside the bathroom door, trying not to go stock still. “Then again, I guess he wouldn’t know so just put one of my pieces on his plate.” Shiro had a silly smile grow across his face.

 

“What if I want to come and get it?” Pidge’s eyes blew up wide and Matt gave them a sheepish grin. “Mm, though I’m not sure dissecting you for some bacon would be very smart. After all, you’re so much fun to be around.” Pidge’s cheeks had grown red, clearly not used to this kind of thing. “Maybe you’ll keep me company again, at night, sometime? I seemed to have slept better with you there.”

 

“Yeah, sure.” Pidge waved before walking over to what was clearly their plate. “Since you probably want some bacon in exchange, come over and you can have one of my pieces.” Shiro was clearly surprised when he finally saw Pidge’s red face. They didn’t do much to hide it either.

 

“Okay.” Matt was clearly not feeling very in place as he finished making up the rest of the breakfast. He was just making Shiro’s eggs at that point, but Shiro’s taller body was almost intimidating as he was fed the piece of bacon. As soon as they were made, they were put on his plate, and Matt slipped out with his plate to the toaster. He slid a couple slices in the machine and pushed down the button.

 

They were all pretty quiet as the day moved forward and they all ate their breakfast. If Shiro was honest, it was pretty strange to be with both Holt siblings. It felt like he was intruding on something that he couldn’t name. At least, until Pidge broke the silence.

 

“So, Matt, I heard you were eyeballing Keith’s friend, Lance.” Matt almost spat out his milk when he heard them. Pidge got a grin real quick, immediately invested in his answer.

 

“I was  _ not  _ eyeballing Lance. Keith had brought in someone new, so I was  _ curious _ , okay?”

 

“Mhm, Keith said you were awfully interested in that ass.” Matt glared at them, waiting for them to clarify. “Keith always calls Lance an ass. I was hoping you’d take the bait.” Pidge shrugged before leaning back in their chair. “Anyway, Keith also told me that Lance had no problems with admitting he was checking you out. As weird as it is that someone would be checking you out, since you’re the cashier.”

 

“Aw, c’mon, Katie! That was a terrible joke, majorly. Keep those jokes to yourself!” Pidge merely snickered. “As a Holt, you should have more pride in your jokes.” Pidge rolled their eyes.

 

“Sure, sure. Next time dad makes another dad joke, I’ll tell him that.” Matt snorted before he started to laugh. “See? As a Holt, my jokes are bound to be bad like dad’s.”

 

“Don’t make them that bad!” Shiro watched as the two Holts laughed and enjoyed themselves. They kept joking back and forth as he finished up his breakfast. He quietly got up from the table as the two fell into a laughing fit. Shiro was quiet as they started another discussion, and he washed his dishes. 

 

“Takashi!” He almost broke his plate as he heard Pidge shout. “You’re spacing hardcore. Do you need something?” Pidge had squished their chest against the back of their chair. Shiro accidentally glanced before embarrassment showed clear on his face. “Oh shit, I haven’t got my binder on.”

 

“Hey! No putting that on today.” Matt snapped as they got up. They turned to look at him, a glare clear on their face. “You wore it too long yesterday, and you don’t have work today. Please, don’t wear it.” Matt gave them a pleading look before they gave a sigh.

 

“I’ll have to go home and get a bra then.” They sounded irritated as they still walked over to their binder on the end table. Picking it up, they shoved it into the bag Shiro hadn’t noticed before. “Which of you are going to take me?”

 

“I don’t mind doing it!” Matt and Pidge both looked at him, clearly surprised by the outburst. “I mean… You came here on my request… Are you two fine with that?” Pidge glared at Matt when he looked at them with a grin wide on his face.

 

“I’m fine with it! Maybe we can hang out today.” Matt spoke up as Pidge rolled their eyes.

 

“Of course I’m fine with it, Takashi.” They stole a moment to watch his cheeks turn red, still not used to it. “You’ll have to wait a little while while we’re there. I can take some time getting ready for a day out.” Matt gave a grin, knowing what kind of game this had turned into. The Holts were well aware of how attractive Pidge had grown up to be, and Matt was especially aware of how their attractives could easily translate to an androgynous beauty. It’d been a while since he’d seen them dress up for someone else, the last person being a beautiful girl, whom wound up being uninterested and that was fine. They were still friends.

 

“That’s fine. You won’t mind too much if I come in, will you? I know some people are really particular about that kind of thing.” Matt busied himself with going off to the bathroom, well aware of how the day would go.

 

“It’s a studio apartment. All of my stuff is kind of out there. As long as you’re fine seeing what my apartment consists of, you’re free to come in. Be warned, though. I take forever if I don’t have someone reminding me that we’re going somewhere.” Shiro nodded softly before grabbing his keys.

 

“I can change when we get back since I don’t take long. Let me just grab a ponytail for now.” He did as he said he would, watching as Pidge slid on their shoes by the door. He couldn’t remember them taking them off by the door last night. Just how tired was he?

 

“We’ll see you later, Matt!” Pidge yelled without much of a care, and received a similar shout in response.

 

“See ya, Pidgey! You too, Shiro!” Shiro could tell he was in the shower so he didn’t make an effort to shout as well; instead, he opened the front door and let Pidge take the lead. His hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, clearly not much effort put there.

 

\---

 

The drive over had Shiro nearly regret that he had been the one to take Pidge to their apartment. Pidge flashed a badge a lot, something that got them through a lot of checkpoints. He wasn’t sure what was happening for a good majority of the drive, but he made it through still relatively sane.

 

“I hope you don’t mind, but your vehicle is now registered in my name under this company, so you can now come in here pretty much whenever. There’s even a shorter route we’ll go through to leave. Of course, you’ll be getting a permanent visitor’s badge so you can come and go as you please.” Shiro merely nodded as he finally parked the car in front of a large building. “Anyway, let’s get going, I’m getting uncomfortable with these lumps of flesh moving so much.”

 

Shiro’s cheeks tinted red just as he realized what Pidge meant. “Pidge! That is-!”

 

“Unattractive? Lewd? Maybe rude? Inconsiderate?”

 

“N-not unattractive…” Shiro couldn’t look at them, looking at the ground.

 

“Aw, does Takashi find me attractive?” They were just teasing him, but they were surprised by the soft nod he gave. “Well… Maybe you can elaborate on that while we’re in my apartment.”

 

“Elaborate?” Shiro’s voice cracked, a laugh of a response received from Pidge.

 

“Only if you’re comfortable, man. I’d love to hear what a beautiful man, such as Takashi Shirogane, finds attractive about a gender-neutral number cruncher.” He went quiet, as he followed Pidge. He was glad that they weren’t too high up. On the third floor, a commotion could be heard as they approached the top step.

 

“Where is she?!” A man seemed to screech, pacing the hallway just as Pidge walked out of the stairwell with Shiro. “They. Fuck, why are pronouns so difficult?”

 

“You know, Lance,” The tall tan man looked their way, quickly eyeing Shiro, “I have a life. Not everyone is in their room all the time.”

 

“Says our resident game tester who is so rarely seen outside of this room unless it’s to crunch numbers on the coding where  _ someone _ fucked up, or to go to the bookstore downtown to see mister dreamy.” Pidge’s cheeks lit up red. “I thought I’d never see the day you brought a real life human to your apartment.”

 

“Lance, you’re being rude. Shiro here is very alive and he happens to  _ be  _ the man I always see at the bookstore.” Realization washed over Lance’s face before he stood up straight.

 

“Shit, I’m sorry. The name’s Lance, and I’m Pidge’s supervisor. I didn’t mean to interrupt whatever it is I did, but I really do need to talk to our residential gremlin before I get in trouble.” Pidge rolled their eyes as Shiro was clearly surprised by the sudden shift in attitude.

 

“My name’s Shiro, nice to meet you. I was actually hoping to spend the day with Pidge and their older brother, Matt.” Pidge and Shiro both noticed the shine of recognition on Lance’s face.

 

“You wouldn’t mind one more, would you? I promise I don’t normally randomly yell in hallways, and that way I’d be able to talk to this nerd about the important stuff.” Shiro shrugged before realizing he should call Matt about it.

 

“It’s not my choice, but I can call Matt real quick.”

 

“He was in the shower when we left, Shiro. He won’t be out and his phone isn’t likely to be heard.” Shiro glanced down, a small frown on his face as they made eye contact. “ _ Takashi _ ,” Pidge’s voice enunciated each syllable, a smirk quickly on their face as Shiro’s cheeks reddened, “It can wait, and so can Lance. He lives down the hall, so go back to your room real quick, Lance.”

 

“Aw, c’mon, Pidgey! I’m not  _ that  _ much of a bother.” Pidge rolled their eyes before pointing down the hall at a mop of black hair upon a shirtless guy.

 

“He’d disagree.” As if knowing Pidge had pointed at him, the guy turned around to reveal it was Keith. He was over within moments, clearly curious despite the fact he was only in his shorts.

 

“What would I disagree about, Pidge?” Keith asked like it was so fascinating that they couldn’t help but grin.

 

“That Lance isn’t a huge cockblock.” He quickly turned around to Lance.

 

“Dude! You were already a huge cockblock with me and Hunk, back off a bit!” Lance gave a gargled sound of confusion.

 

“Wh-  _ I  _ wasn’t a cockblock! You guys were just dense! I tried to tell Hunk you liked him but he didn’t believe me!” Just like that, they were bickering about it and Pidge dragged Shiro quickly into their room, locking it behind him.

 

“Well, that sure got them busy.” Pidge muttered as they walked into the middle of the room, a sigh leaving them as they dropped their bag on the floor. “Sorry you had to see that, Takashi.” Pidge muttered, turning around to offer a weak smile. “Keith had been pining after Hunk pretty much since he met him, but Hunk wasn’t really sure and was honestly scared of Keith. Lance didn’t make it any better by mentioning that he never played any of the games we play, other than the horror ones. Poor Hunk misinterpreted a try at ‘he’s pretty cool’ into a ‘he’s hardcore’ kind of thing. Not that Lance really knew Keith at the time. Now they’re pals.”

 

“Pals?” Shiro muttered in disbelief.

 

“Oh? Don’t believe me? Trust me when I say Keith is more on top of getting Lance a date than he is with getting Hunk to go with him on dates. Considering Hunk is his boyfriend, he’s pretty invested. Then again,” Pidge stopped a moment, turning back around and going over to a small dresser, “Hunk is also Lance’s best friend.”

 

“Huh.” Shiro didn’t have much of a response, especially not as Pidge casually stripped their shirt. They quickly pulled out a bra and put their arms through the straps. They struggled with the back clasp, stretching to reach them and failing to clasp them. “Do you… want some help?” Pidge tossed a glance over their shoulder.

 

“If you wouldn’t mind.” Pidge’s hands fell from the clasp. Shiro took a couple hesitant steps before his thick fingers quickly clasped the bra on the loosest setting. He didn’t step away yet, and Pidge reached up to move the bra around to get it more comfortable. “Can you tighten it a bit more? That set of clasps isn’t tight enough.”

 

“S-sure…” Shiro was awkward, but he still did as they asked. If anything, he was glad they were willing to trust him like that. “Better?” They were still a moment, groping their own breasts to check how it felt. Shiro’s cheeks burned, almost scared of what they might have him do next. After the pause, he felt them lean back against him. His hands were at his side, but they twitched as they leaned against him.

 

“It is better. Will you elaborate on what you find attractive about me?” They looked up at him were such clear eyes, their interest clear. Shiro took a moment to just marvel at the beauty of the trust Pidge was showing him.

 

“W-well, other than your obvious physically attractive traits, I’m particularly fond of the way you’ll be absorbed into a book and just give it your full attention. Like the other day when you were looking at that strange book, you gave every little piece of it your attention. Oh, and definitely the way you joke so casually, it’s really fun. Not to mention, the way you kind of just slid your way into my daily schedule like it was the most normal thing in the world. I love how unique you are, doing what you want and not caring what other people think. Sure, you might, but nobody would know unless you said it.”

 

Pidge hummed and closed their eyes as they felt the vibration of his voice down in his chest as he spoke. He kept talking, going on about a variety of things Pidge hadn’t even known he’d noticed.

 

“My favorite thing is how absorbed you get in learning new things.” Pidge opened their eyes, slightly startled by the warm look Shiro gave them. “You’re my favorite person to learn new things about and I look forward to knowing all your little details that I can.” His hands were warm against their shoulders, a weight they were willing to bear. 

 

“Well, aren’t you just full interesting little tidbits.” They huffed quietly before finally leaning forward. “I’m observant but I don’t know if I have ever given another human near as much attention as I have you. Maybe Matt? I wouldn’t know. Anyway, my point is that you’re actually my reason for still going to Matt’s store at all because I could very easily send Keith to get me any books I wanted. Not that I want to do that since I quite enjoy your company, and I’m not sure about much of anything yet, so I hope you don’t mind that I’m not nearly as wordy when it comes to what I know about you.”

 

“I don’t mind, Pidge.” Pidge let out a soft sigh.

 

“You can call me Katie when it’s in private. I reserve my birth name as a choice for those who are close to me since I won’t ever get rid of it. My family will always call me that and then I won’t have to deal with a lot of stuff. Official document things, I’m Katie Holt. Unofficially, I’m Pidge Gunderson.”

 

“I actually like calling you Pidge… It’s very nice to call you what you prefer.” Pidge gave a warm hearted smile and could feel their chest warm.

 

“Thanks, Takashi…” Shiro’s cheeks reddened. “Do you want earlier to have been a confession of sorts?” Pidge was quiet and clearly did not want Lance to bust in. 

 

“I-is that your way of asking if I want to ask you to be…?”

 

“Your datemate. It’s a… term from a thing I read, but it’s gender neutral and I prefer it that way. If you have to, you can call me your girlfriend, if you want to date me…” 

 

“Does dating you mean I’ll get to kiss you eventually?” Pidge snickered and gently patted his face. 

 

They pulled him down close, nuzzled up next to his ear, and whispered, “Only if you want to. I’ll gladly let you after we’ve been dating a while.” Shiro’s cheeks reddened and warmed up immensely. “Have fun with today, Takashi.”

 

“W-what do you mean by that?”

 

“I mean, I’m actually putting effort into my appearance for you, Takashi.” Shiro’s cheeks reddened more, finally getting what they were putting down. “Anyway, it’s not going to be a big deal if we date, because it’s not like you're my first boyfriend… Okay, maybe you are, but that’s not the point.” Pidge pointed at him with a stern expression. “You got it?”

 

“Y-yeah…” Shiro muttered, clearly confused by it. “Is there anything I need to keep in mind?”

 

“If you’re super goopy sappy, I will hit you.” Pidge groaned as they bent over again to look through their clothes. They didn’t give much thought to the fact Shiro was still right there. “Also, I’m extremely demisexual so try to keep from expecting anything sexual for a long while. I’m a proud virgin in the fact that I have still used toys to satisfy those fleshly desires. That,” They paused as they stood up and turned to look at Shiro with an embarrassed look on their face, “was probably not something I needed to mention.”

 

“N-not really? I mean…” Shiro’s voice was a squeak as he quickly took a step back. “M-my dick appreciated it, though…” His cheeks were bright red as he looked away; his hands covered the “appreciation” he mentioned. Pidge snickered.

 

“Sorry about that, Shiro. I didn’t mean to mention it. Words just flow easy enough around you that I just kind of said it. I gotta get dressed so you’re free to take care of that in my bathroom.”

 

“Do you really want me to take care of this in your bathroom?” Shiro was quiet as he spoke slowly. Pidge looked over to him before standing to full height. They rested their weight almost entirely on one leg, cocking their hip as they did so. A hand rested on their raised hip, an eyebrow raised. They raised their other hand with the palm facing the ceiling.

 

“Would I have offered if I really cared? It’s not like I can help you with it; I’m much too awkward for that. It’s either that or suffer through it. Your choice but I can’t say much of anything about where you might want to do it since I just have a stand up shower. The bathroom isn’t very large.” Their hand moved as they talked, enunciating certain words with motions. “I would’ve offered somewhere else, but I don’t know much about spurting dicks.” Shiro couldn’t help how he bust out laughing. “What?”

 

“S-s-s-spurt-spurting d-dicks?” Shiro stuttered out between laughs as his body convulsed from it.

 

“Well!” Pidge huffed and crossed their arms. “Like I said, I don’t know much about them! You can’t expect me to know my way around one.” Shiro’s laughter slowly died down as he clutched his stomach. Luckily, the way they had referred to it had killed his boner. He’d never been more thankful for a boner killer.

 

“Y-you don’t have to worry.” He huffed out, a smile on his face as he wiped a tear away. “I don’t expect you to touch my dick anytime soon. It’s not soemthing I can control very well in the sense of boners, but I can at least promise not to ask too much of you on that side of things.” They looked at him skeptically before they sighed.

 

“Well, I still have to get dressed so if you want to leave so you don’t have to deal with another boner, feel free.” Shiro shook his head before coming up next to them. They turned around as his attention was focused on the various drawers of the small dresser, labeled this and that.

 

“What do you want to wear?” Shiro asked quietly as he did his best not to look in the drawer of bras and underwear.

 

“Personally, something soft. I have some soft dresses, but they’re pretty short.” Shiro gave a hum as Pidge opened a drawer and closed the underwear drawer. The drawer they opened was unlabeled, and Shiro was surprised to see neatly folded dresses in it. His hands moved as his mouth did, going to the open drawer as he started to speak.

 

“I like this one.” He liked the fabric, if he was being honest. He didn’t much mind to the color or the possible length or low cut. Pidge merely smiled as he pulled out the striped fabric. Black and green stripes went across it and over the sleeves that Shiro hadn’t noticed at first. The green was vibrant and the black was cool, going along beautifully over the chest portion.

 

Pidge took it from him and slid it on. It showed their bra straps clear as day and lay fairly low down on their chest. What cleavage they did have was shown. Shiro realized belatedly that it was a very showy dress for the simple design. “I’ll need to-”

 

“I really didn’t mean to choose such a low cut one, Pidge!” Shiro interrupted and Pidge didn’t have the heart to be mad at that concerned puppy dog look on his face. Instead, they took it as a chance to tease him. They stepped up close and looked up at him, forcing him to look down and get a glimpse of their bra beneath it.

 

“You just saw me with my shirt for a while and this is embarrassing you? Can I ask how innocent you are?” Shiro merely pouted, brows drawn together. “I’d guess you’re a virgin, too.”

 

“N-no… Though she did force herself on me…” Shiro’s cheeks burned red, and Pidge gave him a soft smile.

 

“Ever had consensual sex?” Shiro shook his head. “Then you’re a consensual virgin. Close enough.” Shiro gave a weak smile. “It’s a good thing, okay? I honestly don’t expect to be doing anything either of us wouldn’t like, and that’s the way I want to keep it. If you don’t want to do something, you better tell me. Unless it’s that you don’t want to tell me? Then, I want you to tell me it’d make you uncomfortable to tell me and then we’ll work that one from there.”

 

“So… we’re datemates now?” Pidge nodded.

 

“Of course, unless you don’t want that.”

 

“I like it. I mean, I would like to date you.” Pidge gave him a grin before patting his arm lightly.

 

“Well, then let’s take Matt on a date. Maybe even take Lance. Actually, we could make it a secret double date. Quick, go out there and tell Lance to get dressed up. Like casual dressed up, none of that suit and tie b.s.” Pidge started shoving Shiro towards the door. He let them.

 

“I’ll tell him.”  Pidge grinned as they shoved him completely out the door after unlocking it. “Well.” Shiro muttered as he stood just outside the door. He looked up and down the hall, Lance nowhere in sight. “Shoot.” He walked down the hall, thinking to look for his room but quickly abandoned that idea since he didn’t know Lance’s last name. Instead, he found Keith’s room. He knocked and, sure enough, Keith opened the door. It took him a moment to register that Shiro was the one standing there before his features brightened up significantly.

 

“Shiro! Hey, haven’t seen you much.” Shiro rolled his eyes before responding.

 

“Were Pidge and Lance so distracting you didn’t notice me standing there?” Keith blinked and then squinted at him. “Pidge brought me to help… with nothing in particular. I was their ride.”

 

“Oh! So did Pidge stay at your place?”

 

“Me and Matt’s place.”

 

“Their brother, right?” Shiro nodded, somewhat confused as to why he was still talking to Keith outside his studio instead of inside. “That’s cool. Oh look,” Keith pointed somewhat randomly behind Shiro, “here comes Lance.” 

 

Surprisingly, he really was there, and as soon as Shiro had turned, the door was shut again. He turned back to it and sighed. “Oof, you’re lucky he even answered.” Shiro turned to Lance as he patted Shiro’s shoulder. “It’s his only free time with Hunk right now. You may have interrupted… uh,” Shiro’s eyes widened with realization just before he smacked himself in the face, “Yeah. You interrupted that.”

 

“Well, I just did that. At least he kept me company long enough for you to come around. Wait, I still have to call Matt, fuck.” Shiro groaned before giving Lance a tired smile. “I’m really out of it today, just want to go back to sleep.”

 

“Hey man, I totally understand. Then again, I also have a somewhat lengthy morning routine so I’m always going through that and, man, that can be exhausting.” Lance smiled and patted Shiro’s shoulder again. “If Pidge kicked you out, you’re welcome to join me for a bit.”

 

“I can call Matt while I’m with you.” Lance nodded as he walked off back towards Pidge’s room. They got to his right before Pidge’s, somewhat surprising Shiro. “You’re neighbors?”

 

“We technically all are, except Hunk. Keith is in charge of going through comments and recent bugs reported in our games. Pidge is in charge of organizing the code when some idiot or another fucks it up and in charge of recreating the bugs that get past Keith. I’m in charge of the art aspect of it all. Thus, my room may be a bit messy.” He shrugged as he let Shiro in.

 

“You consider this messy?” Shiro looked around and it wasn't really messy. A bit chaotic, but not messy.

 

“Eh, not right now. I’m not in the middle of an inspiration spree. You can ask Keith and Pidge about that. I’ve been pretty messy.” Shiro merely shrugged. He had a feeling Lance never got quite as messy as he did. Thinking back on it, he realized that Pidge wouldn’t really care much about it with the way they just threw their clothes wherever.

 

“I’ll go ahead and call Matt.” Lance waved as he went about gathering up the few things left out. Shiro didn’t expect Matt to answer quickly, he never did, but he actually did for once. The call was short and Shiro was done before Lance had finished picking up. “He said it’s cool. Something about foiling a plan, but still good? I never question the Holts.” Shiro shrugged before he walked back to the door.

 

“Going to check on Pidge?”

 

“Yeah, get ready, Lance. Pidge said to dress up, but like casual. You get what I mean?” Shiro was clearly confused as to how to get what Pidge meant across.

 

“Don’t worry. The easiest way to translate what Pidge probably meant is something along the lines of don’t dress like trash. Which I never do, thank you very much.” Shiro gave a smile before leaving. Lance hummed to himself as the door closed behind him.

 

He was quickly at Pidge’s door, knocking softly before he heard Pidge shout through it to just come in, with brasher words.

 

“He- Oh wow.” Shiro stopped mid-sentence, surprised by the way Pidge had dressed up in the time he was gone. They had a pair of tall high heels that also covered their calves with a pair of long socks that peeked up over the top of the shoes and covered halfway up their thigh. The only reason Shiro knew it was halfway was because they had just pulled them up and attached what he assumed to be a garter belt to them. His heart did a little flip as he thanked his own self control for not trying to see their underwear.

 

“I still have to do my hair. Do you know how to braid?” Shiro shook his head, his loose bun losing some strands in the process. “Can I braid your hair?” Shiro’s cheeks reddened once again, easily flustered by such simple gestures. “I have the stuff to do it in the bathroom, as long as you don’t mind the close proximity.” 

 

“Lead the way…” Pidge gave a grin and walked towards the door of the bathroom, and Shiro followed shortly behind. The bathroom sink was probably the clearest part until you looked to the counter section of the vanity where a box sat open with a variety of hair ties and brushes sat alongside makeup. Shiro merely watched as Pidge grabbed the only brush that seemed to be brand new. He let them tug him around and do as they needed and he wound up a variety of little braids throughout his messy hair. The white part was wound into a small braid that went over as a crown towards the back.

 

Pidge lingered as they finished before they placed their face against his chest. “Thanks, Takashi.” He felt his cheeks warm before he gently placed his hand on their back and held them there softly.

 

“I’m glad to help because I’m here for you.” They looked up at him, eyes slightly watery before they squeezed them closed. A weak smile spread over their lips as they looked up at him.

 

“I’ll do my best to be here for you, too.” Their voice was shaky as they leaned against him again. “Hopefully I’ll stop seeing the different version of you soon… I’d be happy to just have you as you…” They sniffled and wrapped their arms around him in a tight embrace. He rubbed their back softly as they cried silently against his chest.

 

They stood there for a while before Pidge pulled away with a harsh breath. “Any better?”

 

“I still have you, and I’m sure the more we hang out, the more the illusion will fade… I just hope that’s for the better.” Shiro set his hand on their head softly, running it down their hair and cupping the back of their head gently. He placed his forehead against theirs and nuzzled their noses together.

 

“It’ll be fine as long as you’re okay, okay?” Pidge looked him dead in the eye, searching for some reason to not believe him. For a moment, the illusion showed through and those same soft eyes looked at them. With a soft smile, they nodded.

 

“I believe you, Takashi.” The illusion’s eyes widened and it faded away within a blink, replaced by Shiro’s smiling face.

 

“I’m glad. Now,” He pulled away finally, his hands finding themselves on Pidge’s shoulders, turning them to the mirror, “You wanted to do your hair, didn’t you?” Pidge giggled before nodding and stepped towards the mirror.

 

“Time to fix up my hair.” It would normally take them a while, being a perfectionist at heart did tend to make things difficult and time consuming. This time, it didn’t take forever. They didn’t even spend that long deciding on what style they were going to go with. They matched Shiro with a braided crown but their crown lead to another braid going down with the rest of their loose hair. Their bangs still hung in their face since the braid didn’t start there, but Shiro was happy with it and made a point of complimenting on their technique and talent with it.

 

Finally, they were ready for the day ahead. Except, Shiro wasn’t even dressed and they still had to go get Lance and see if he was ready. It surprised Pidge when they walked out and found him waiting in the hallway. He joked about not always taking forever when Pidge asked him about it.

 

They wound up going out to Shiro’s car fairly quickly, mainly because of Shiro’s pace. Perhaps he had gotten self conscious about his own clothing. Either way, Pidge and Lance were clearly unaware of why he was suddenly in a rush. Even when they got to the apartment complex, he apologized before running up the stairs to get to his apartment.

 

“What’s wrong with him?” Lance asked quietly as Pidge started up the stairs slowly. “He seemed so put together earlier.”

 

“He’s really not all that together usually. He has troubles sleeping a lot of the time, honestly. It’s a miracle if he gets a full night’s rest, but he did last night. Maybe the excess of energy is throwing him off?” Lance shrugged at Pidge’s guess.

 

Meanwhile, upstairs, Shiro was already in the apartment and let out a helpless screech before flopping himself on the floor. Matt had watched as he ran into the apartment and effectively stopped dead in his tracks and fell over like he’d been shot. “You alive?” He asked, gently kicking Shiro in the side.

 

“Yes? No? I gotta change, I’ll be back. Pidge and Lance are coming up, be prepared.” Matt rolled his eyes as Shiro peeled himself off the floor. It took Matt all of a moment before he noticed the braids in Shiro’s hair. For a moment, he wondered if they’d last through the day.

 

“I’m always ready, spaz. I made sure to check that you had some of your good clothes clean. Lucky you, that tight fitting shirt was clean. You could show off your own rack alongside Pidge’s.” Shiro turned around and shot him a glare.

 

“I am not going to show off my nonexistent rack.” Matt merely grinned before Shiro fled into his room.

 

“Sure, sure, nonexistent. Only because you haven’t gorged on anything recently.” Matt muttered to himself before turning on Ghost Adventures, enjoying one of his favorite episodes they had recorded.

 

As Shiro finally changed out of his sleep clothes, Pidge and Lance had just gotten to their floor. The pair walked up to Matt’s apartment, and with Lance’s insistence, they knocked. Matt shouted to come in and they were in the living room. Pidge almost instantly sat down to go watch the show.

 

“Hey.” Matt spoke quietly, clearly focused on the TV.

 

“Hey, nerd, I’m invading your fridge.” Matt merely waved off Pidge as they went and did as they pleased. Lance watched as they helped themself to a bottle of root beer.

 

“Do you always just let them do what they want?” Matt shrugged as Lance joined him on the couch.

 

“No reason not to? Katie hasn’t gotten themself in trouble in a long time. What point do I have in worrying? Unless they go and get themselves fucked and knocked up,” Lance heard as Pidge sputtered and choked on their root beer, a loud clack of a cup on the counter, and some cursing, “I have nothing to worry about. Until that happens-”

 

“Until?!”

 

“I have nothing to worry about with that reaction.” Lance couldn’t help how he snorted with laughter, clutching his stomach as his body convulsed with the laughter. Shiro peeked his head out, noticing the bright red on Pidge’s face and Matt’s own laughter alongside Lance’s. Pidge looked at him as he looked at them, their eyes meeting for a moment before Pidge’s entire body stiffened and they looked away.

 

Shiro merely walked out, running a hand through his unbraided side of hair. “What did you guys say to make Pidge so flustered? I haven’t seen them so flustered… ever.”

 

“Oh no! It’s daddy Shiro to get on our cases for embarrassing Pidge!” Shiro’s cheeks flushed.

 

“I told you not to call me that!” Shiro stomped over in his skinny jeans and flannel before hitting Matt on the head, Gibbs style. Matt yelped before laughing more as he rubbed the back of his head. 

 

“I had told Lance here that I have nothing to worry about until they get fucked and knocked up.” He managed to get out before laughing more as Shiro’s face reddened almost as fast as Pidge’s had. His eyes widened as his jaw went slack before he covered it with his hand and quickly walked back into his room. Matt laughed more at that until he was struggling to breathe.

 

“Dude! Breathe! Breathe!” Lance shouted as he finally got his laughter under control. Pidge watched as Lance harshly hit Matt on the back until he started to breathe properly. Their embarrassment hadn’t died down yet, but they walked over to Shiro’s door and knocked. He opened the door and let them in without any words.

 

It was awkwardly silent as they both kind of just stood in his room. Pidge looked around, noticing the bed shoved in the corner with clothes strewn about the floor. The bed wasn’t made and they didn’t think there was a sheet even on it. A comforter hung halfway off the bed, mostly bundled up. There seemed to be an infinite amount of pillows around the bed, a few on it and a large amount on the floor with the clothes. A dresser wasn’t that far from it either, some of the drawers left open and nothing was labeled.

 

“So…” Pidge muttered and went over to the bed before making themself comfortable. “You can ignore what Matt said. It’s a joke he pulls every time someone asks about why he allows me to kind of just do what I want.” Pidge shrugged before continuing. “I don’t know why I haven’t gotten used to the way he always says ‘until I get knocked up’ since he’s said it every single fucking time.” Pidge waved their hands, clearly embarrassed but still nonchalant.

 

“Well…” Shiro started off quietly, as if he was unsure of what he was going to say. “There’s no way to even know if you even can have kids? I know a lot of people who were so adamant about having kids and then they try and try but… the woman just can’t conceive a child. I haven’t personally thought about the whole… children aspect of anything. I just wanted to find someone who I liked and liked me back… That’s kind of childish of me, isn’t it?” Pidge snorted before they waved it away as if it was tangibly there.

 

“It’s not childish. It’s completely reasonable to think entirely about just finding someone to love.” Pidge noted the way Shiro had used the word ‘like’ a moment ago, and inwardly cringed as they realized they used ‘love’ instead. Was that really a big thing? Possibly not, but Shiro’s stance did soften as they spoke. “I mean, love is such a big thing in some people’s lives and if it’s more important to just find someone you could see a future with to you, then that’s what’s important. I, for one, don’t expect to ever raise a child due to my inherent lack of the ability to really take care of myself.”

 

“I get that.” Shiro was smiling finally, and came over to the bed and sat next to them. “I clearly don’t take good care of myself.” Pidge merely shrugged and leaned on him as the bed dipped.

 

“So…” Pidge muttered as they sat their hand on Shiro’s thigh. “Do you want to tell Matt we’re dating? Or do you think that would expand the teasing to you?”

 

“I only want to tell him if you want to. He’s your brother, after all.” Pidge shrugged. “You’re already 20, Pidge. I don’t think he really has a say in who you date.” Pidge snorted.

 

“You’re what… 24?” Shiro’s smile stretched a bit sheepishly. “Wait, no, 26?” Shiro sighed.

 

“Close enough.” Pidge pushed at him slightly, pouting as they did. “I’m 27. Two years older than Matt.” Pidge merely shrugged.

 

“Now I know my boyfriend is 7 years older than me. Woah, big deal. I just wanted to know so I could give you shit. When’s your birthday?”

 

“I’m a leap year kid.” Pidge snickered.

 

“So you’re technically 6 birthdays old?” Shiro groaned. “Not 6 years, 6 birthdays. You’re still 27, just only 6 actual birthdays.”

 

“What about you? Got a normal birthday?” Pidge shrugged at the question.

 

“Normal enough. April 3rd.” Shiro ‘ooh’d at the mention before wrapping an arm around their shoulder.

 

“Do you think they think we left ‘em?” Shiro gave them a mischievous smile. Pidge quickly returned it.

 

“Dude, we could totally fuck with them, I got this. You walk out and say I went out to the car and you gotta find your keys again. I’ll stay here, hidden in your blanket in case Matt offers to help.” It was kind of just an excuse to bundle up in Shiro’s blanket.

 

“Okay, you bundle up. I’ll go out there, and, hey,” Shiro stopped a moment to give Pidge his keys, “this way he’ll give up quickly.” They nodded and went about curling up in his blanket, giving it only a moment of thought about the possible mess of their hair. Shrugging it off, they quickly burrowed. Shiro took a moment to make sure Pidge had settled in the blanket, and once they had, he walked out to find Matt and Lance casually talking about where they wanted to go.

 

“Oh dude! What’s up? Where’s Pidge? Did you see them leave? I can’t find them.” Lance asked casually, looking up just in time to miss the soft way Matt looked at him. Shiro shrugged.

 

“I think they went down to the car. I gotta find my keys before I go down though.” Lance shrugged and Matt gave him a suspicious look. 

 

“We can head down while you look for them. I’m sure Pidge probably just got tired of being around us after we embarrassed them. We were laughing awfully loud so I wouldn’t be surprised if they snuck out. I thought I heard a door while we were laughing anyway.” Lance shrugged again before getting up and offering his hand to Matt. “Come on, man.”

 

Matt gave Shiro another look before he accepted Lance’s hand. “I’m gonna look for my keys in my room, I might’ve thrown a shirt on them while I was looking for an outfit.” Lance snorted before taking Matt to the door. “I won’t be too long, hopefully. If I am, there is always the little café nearby to hang out at. Just text me if you head over there.”

 

“We will! We’ll let you know if we find Pidge downstairs, too.” Shiro gave Lance a nod before the two of them left. He went back to his room letting out a quiet sigh before he sat down on the bed.

 

“Hey again. Now it’s time to wait for them to text me they didn’t find you downstairs.” Pidge wiggled until their head popped out, the braided crown a mess against their hair. “Pft, your hair is a mess.” 

 

“Yeah, I bet my outfit is too.” Shiro snickered more at that before scooting closer and picking them up in the blanket. They let out a squeal before he set them down on the bed next to him. They set their head on his thigh. “You can undo my braids for me like this.” 

 

“Yeah, I can. Do you want me to?” Pidge nodded against his thigh. “Okay.” Shiro’s fingers quickly worked to do what Pidge wanted them to do. The strands slowly became free of the braid until it was no more. His phone beeped and his body jumped in response. Pidge wiggled free before insisting he continue playing with their hair. They stole his phone from his pocket, making him unlock it. They pulled out his keys and pulled up the camera.

 

Pidge took a selfie with the keys and their tongue stuck out. They made sure Shiro wasn’t visible before sending the picture with the message “stolen bitch.” Shiro moved to look at it as he continued to play with their hair. Lance seemed to have taken the initiative and texted back since that was definitely Lance’s texting style. 

 

Pidge and Lance texted each other for a while as Shiro continued to mess with their hair. At some point Pidge muttered under their breath. “What’d you say?”

 

“I said fuck because I gotta hide again if I’m gonna keep fucking with these two.” Shiro nodded.

 

“I can hide with you. My closet is decently spacious as long as you don’t mind being squished against me.” Pidge shrugged as they wriggled out of the blanket, sprawled across Shiro’s lap with the phone in hand. 

 

“Do I look like I’d mind?” Shiro coughed as if to point out something that Pidge wasn’t thinking about. “I know you might get a boner but that’s your problem, my dude.” Shiro groaned and flopped back. “What? I’m not going to touch it yet. Like I said, you can take care of it, you’re a big boy.” Shiro snorted before he sat back up.

 

“I hope I won’t have to deal with inconvenient boners for the rest of my life.”

 

“The only time it’s not inconvenient is if you have to intention of fucking someone or dealing with pent up sexual frustration or whatever. I wouldn’t know, I haven’t had to masturbate in a while. The toys I do have are really just cool to be honest. Though, I guess I have them as a way of like making sure I have some way of dealing with it if I end up horny for some odd reason. My sex drive is super low, though.”

 

“Well, I guess I’ll be stuck with my hand for a while then.” Pidge shrugged.

 

“Probably best to not get your hopes up.” Shiro sighed as Pidge got up from his lap finally. “Anyway, I’m going to hide in your closet. Ain’t no need for this cryptid to come out of the closet.” Shiro snorted at the joke before walking with them to his closet door. He opened it and stepped in, scooting a beanbag further against a wall. He shoved himself behind his clothes and Pidge stepped in after him. He was surprised when Pidge nuzzled up against him.

 

They forced his arms around them so that he was holding them. They closed their eyes after slipping his keys into his back pocket and his phone in the other back pocket. It was quiet for a while, just their soft breathing. Shiro was a bit conflicted about dealing with the darkness of the closet, but he was dealing with it well enough with Pidge’s warmth against him.

 

He started when he heard the front door almost slam open. “I think they’re here.” Shiro whispered, shifting a bit to make sure he was still comfortable enough to stand. He was surprised when Pidge tugged him harshly down until he fell on his ass a bit roughly. Luckily, he wasn’t very loud when Pidge decided to curl up in his lap, also a bit roughly. He was quiet as they closed their eyes and thread their fingers together with his. His free hand supported their back gently.

 

Pidge seemed to be muttering something under their breath, but Shiro didn’t dare mention it. His hand moved soothingly over their back and he stroked his thumb over their hand. After a moment, he pulled them closer and lifted their hand up to his lips.

 

“Pidge.” No response. “Pidge, hey, it’s me.” A moment longer and he heard the muffled noise of Matt knocking on his door. “Katie.” Their eyes opened and they quickly looked up at him. “You good?”

 

“Sorry… I was trying to make the illusion go away again. Your arm was mechanical again and it was lighting up the rest of the closet… Except, I didn’t see your beanbag or anything else. It was just me and you in an oddly metallic closet…” Pidge muttered before moving closer to him again. “I wonder when they’ll stop…”

 

“Do you remember what we’re doing in here?” Pidge took a moment before nodding with a barely visible smile.

 

“Fucking with Matt and Lance.” Shiro gave them an equally barely visible smile before pressing his finger to their lips.

 

“Now, shhh, we gotta be quiet.” Pidge nodded before nuzzling closer to Shiro. He huffed a breath through his nose as he held them close. Matt’s voice could be heard, muffled, through the door. Lance’s voice could be as well.

 

“Where the hell did he go? Does he even know Katie has his phone and keys?” Matt’s voice was clear with how loud he was.

 

“Well, he could have… Where could he have gone? Unless…” Lance went quiet and Pidge strained to try to hear them. They failed and just held their breath against Shiro’s chest. It was a bit frightening to not know what Lance was planning, but if he knew Pidge well enough… They had a feeling they were going to be found shortly.

 

It was quiet outside the door in the room, too quiet to Pidge. Then, they had a funny idea that they thought would be too priceless to pass up. Shifting around again, they moved up so they had their lips by Shiro’s ear. 

 

“I’m going to kiss you.” Shiro made a quiet choked sort of sound before Pidge did just that. Shiro’s eyes were wide as he felt Pidge’s chapped lips against his soft ones. Pidge barely made any movements, a small squeak leaving their lips as Shiro’s hand moved to hold them still. He pulled away for a moment before gently kissing them again, Pidge slightly surprised by it. 

 

It took only a second for Pidge to take it as a challenge. Shiro was genuinely surprised by their sudden push despite being clearly inexperienced and the idea alone of Pidge wanting to kiss him quickly made him malleable in their hands.  

 

Then the door opened and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He heard an unfamiliar squawk which he assumed to be Lance. Pidge didn’t back off even as they both heard what was clearly Matt’s footsteps hurrying over. Shiro’s cheeks quickly heated up and reddened by the thought of Matt catching them kissing. Lance was a stranger to him, so it wasn’t as embarrassing, but Matt? Shiro found himself whining through his nose slightly just as Matt appeared in the doorway.

 

Pidge finally pulled away, and surprised Shiro by licking their lips. His jaw went slack as Matt snorted behind Pidge. Lance quickly looked at him before he heard him speak. “Nice going, Kate. You’ve embarrassed Shiro in the best way possible. I don’t think anything that could’ve happened out of the house would be near as embarrassing as this.”

 

“What?” Shiro squeaked out. Pidge nuzzled their face against his neck, ignoring both Matt and Lance. They wrapped their arms around Shiro’s shoulders, playing with the part of his hair that wasn’t braided. Shiro felt a shiver grow through him as Pidge gently kissed his neck. His panicked expression shifted back to pure embarrassment as Matt grabbed Lance’s hand.

 

“Come on, let’s go. Shiro, get your keys and phone from little miss clingy. Then we can go have lunch finally.”

 

“Fuck off, Matt.” Pidge groaned as he left getting a very clearly joking “language!” from Matt. “I hadn’t intended on kissing you so soon…” They muttered against his neck, making his body shiver more. “But… I kind of thought, maybe, just maybe, it’d help stop the illusions and also be a great way to show off my affection for you… Maybe it was a dumb idea. Sorry to have rushed anything.”

 

“I-it’s fine… I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while now… Maybe something a bit more expected? Though, I’m a bit concerned about the illusions you keep experiencing… Maybe we should try to find some help with it?” Pidge shook their head against him.

 

“If we’re supposed to, it’ll bring it to us. I’m sure of that. There’s no way anyone who doesn’t get pulled to us would understand. It’s… I can’t explain it, but it’s like I know I won’t be able to get help from anyone local to our town. Maybe we’ll just end up with the help if we need it. For now, I want to just enjoy what we have.” Pidge gave him a smile before carefully moving off of him. 

 

“Okay. Let’s go get some lunch then.” Shiro got out of the closet before helping Pidge to their feet. “I’m sure some food would help right now. Maybe it’ll help take our minds off of it.” Pidge nodded.

 

“Yeah, maybe it will. I’ll get to tease Matt and Lance for the majority of the day. That’ll be fun.”

 

\---

 

Pidge groaned as they leaned against Shiro, clearly tired. “Why are they so fucking talkative?” Shiro shrugged. They were at a park since Lance had insisted he had to show how good he was at handstands and other various athletic activities. Matt had been also equally insistent on attempting to do all the same stuff. Pidge groaned again as Matt landed on his face. Luckily, Matt had given Pidge his glasses so he didn’t break them with his shenanigans. 

 

“Maybe he’s trying to be attractive? He does seem to be pretty interested in Lance.”

 

“Yeah, Lance’s ass!” Pidge shouted at them causing Lance to screw up his balance and fall on his face. Despite it being early afternoon, nobody else was there. Pidge snickered as Lance shouted back at them indignantly. Shiro couldn’t help his laughter as Matt also turned a bit red from the random shouting.

 

“You love messing with them, don’t you?” Pidge nodded before turning their head to hide it against his shoulder as they laughed a bit. “Is it return for any time Matt teased you?” They nodded against him. “Well, they’d be kinda cute together, don’t you think so?” Pidge huffed against his shoulder.

 

“I think they could figure something out. I wonder if they’ve realized we started dating. I kind of doubt Matt would really have noticed. I’d already mentioned, sort of, liking you and to him it could’ve just been me confusing the hell out of you earlier. If anything, I’ll probably hear about Keith complaining about Lance’s crush later. You might hear about Matt’s crush, but I won’t know until later. I might be able to stay the night again tonight. We could try to sleep in your bed instead.” Shiro’s cheeks darkened as he glanced towards Pidge who went back to watching Lance and Matt.

 

“I would say yes but I’d be reluctant to leave bed in the morning more than usual if you were there too…” Shiro muttered before Pidge snickered in response.

 

“Next week then. You always have Sundays off, don’t you?” Shiro nodded. “I’ll come over again next week and we can sleep in. How does that sound?”

 

“It sounds nice, Pidge. It sounds really nice.” Pidge snorted as Lance lost control of a cartwheel and fell. Neither of the idiots had gotten hurt so they kept watching, waiting for it to be late enough that they wanted to leave.

 

\---

 

It was Tuesday and Pidge found themself at the computer in their room. They’d only been dating Shiro for two days and they found themself oddly conscious about it. Everytime they’d see him, they either wanted to stare which usually resulted in seeing the illusion of another version of him or in an embarrassed excuse when he caught them. Now, they were looking for something to distract themself from this excessive interest in someone who they’d only really been friends with before.

 

Even if they did kind of have a crush on him from the very beginning, but that wasn’t important. They didn’t want to overwhelm with their repressed feelings getting to burst open and just overflow. On one hand, Shiro seemed more than happy to go at whatever pace Pidge wanted; on the other hand, Shiro seemed surprised any time they seemed to even consider doing anything more than holding hands.

 

“Keith has complained a couple times about Lance’s current infatuation with Matt… I’ve had to deal with distracting Lance twice in the last two days from going over to Keith’s since he had some extra time with Hunk, and the illusion has spread over to Keith, Lance, and Hunk. I currently don’t know if I want to see Shiro because I end up seeing the other version too much in the last two days… I can’t tell what’s wrong with me…”

 

Their computer screen showed that they had been searching up possible causes for seeing consistent delusions with people.

 

“I don’t think I’ll go to the bookstore tonight. Better let Shiro know.” They pulled out their phone, taking a moment as they just stared at it. Another moment passed and another. Pidge’s eyes seemed to lose focus as the phone and computer morphed in their vision until they were looking at a strange robot.

 

It beeped at them, as if it was sad. They offered a weak smile before it beeped again.

 

“I… I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Rover…” They could feel the lack of their long hair, and ran a hand over the back of their neck. Even their body felt wrong in a way. They reached up to find a pair of glasses on their face, confusion settling on their face as they took them off. A quick flash of what Shiro had told them before about what he saw for Matt had them tearing up.

 

Then Hunk showed up. Pidge didn’t know how he got in, they thought their door was locked. “Pidge, hey, buddy, I’m here for you. Don’t worry, we’ll find him. We’ll find them both and you can be reunited and we’ll save the world. We’ll do it, okay? We can do this.” Pidge looked up to find a softer face than they usually saw on Hunk.

 

“Everything feels wrong, Hunk. I can’t… What’s wrong with me?” The world around them started to fade, their eyes going dark. “Hunk? What’s happening? Don’t let me go!” Pidge’s voice got louder as they became more panicked as they slowly couldn’t hear.

 

Just as it was almost completely black and almost completely silent, they heard him. “You’ll be okay, Pidge. I’m never going to let go.” Then it was dark.

 

\---

 

A buzzing roused their conscious. “Ugh…” Pidge slowly sat up to find themself alone in their room. Their computer sat abandoned on the floor next to them and their phone buzzed in their hand. Looking down at it, they saw Shiro was calling. They answered as they held their head with a simple “hello?”

 

_ “Pidge! Thank goodness, you weren’t responding to any of my texts and Lance told me he heard you screaming and that you wouldn’t answer the door and the door was locked and he didn’t want to break in and-” _

 

“Shiro, you’re rambling and my head is killing me.” Shiro quietly apologized as they got up. “Look, I have…” They looked around their room until their eyes landed on a small note. “Give me a second.” Despite Shiro’s clearly concerned muttering, he agreed to give them a bit. The note was small and in a style they’d never seen before. “I need to show you this; where are you?”

 

_ “I was on my way to your apartment… Matt let me off early since it seemed reasonable at the time. Do you want me to just finish coming over? I’m not that far.” _

 

“Yeah, get over here. I’ll tell you what I remember.” Shiro gave an affirmative response before they hung up. “Weird fucking delusions.” They read over the note a couple times, considering leaving before Shiro could get there.

 

**“My name is Allura and I may have an answer to your questions. Find me at the park at midnight if you’ve woken up. You’ll need to if you want to make it through these happenings.”**

 

Pidge turned it over and looked over the page multiple times. There didn’t seem to be any ill intent in the message, and if Pidge was honest, it was a welcome thing. They let out a sigh before going over and unlocking their door. Lance was sitting in the hallway where he perked up in about two seconds.

 

“Pidge! Oh my fuck, you’re okay!” Lance did a small dance as he got up.

 

“Hunk didn’t tell you?” Pidge found themself confused by their own words as Lance tilted his head.

 

“Why would Hunk know you’re okay? He’s been at work all day, I thought.” Pidge felt a throb go through their head, immediately grabbing it. “Are you okay? Have you eaten or drank anything? I’ll get you some water; stay out here, please.”

 

“Fine, I’ll sit on the bench.” They walked over to it after shutting their door, the note still in their hand as Lance rushed into his room. Plopping their ass down, they patiently waited before they realized it was probably a bad idea to be by themself. They realized they still had their phone, just shoved in their pocket. They sent Keith a text to come out and sit with them. He was out within a minute.

 

“The fuck happened earlier?” Pidge gave him a glance.

 

“Would you believe me if I told you I felt like I was in a different reality? Like there was a younger Hunk and this little robot named Rover and I had Matt’s glasses and I think he was lost in space… I don’t know, Hunk told me he wouldn’t let me go as everything went black. That was when I was screaming.” Keith shrugged before leaning forward.

 

“Knowing you, you wouldn’t lie about that shit. Did he, uh, mention anything about saving the world?” Pidge nodded. “Well, fuck. It might be coinciding with me and Hunk’s dreams. We’ve been dreaming that we’re on this spaceship when we were younger and being forced to save the world and I was really good with a sword and we fought things. We both remember seeing Shiro with his hair short again. That’s actually why I didn’t recognize when I saw him at the bookstore.” Pidge snorted. “What?”

 

“You broke the poor man’s heart with that.” Keith gently shoved Pidge. “So you believe me?”

 

“Yeah, no reason not to.” 

 

“Would you believe me that a note showed up in my room after I woke up?” Keith nodded. “Good, cause it happened.” They showed the note in their hand, but didn’t let him read it. “I’m going to show Shiro it. He’s going to be my reasoner because I’m considering listening to it and going to a park in the middle of the night by myself if he doesn’t want to go.”

 

“I’d go with your ass if he won’t.” Pidge shrugged before leaning on him.

 

“Just keep me awake until Shiro’s here. He’s been great so far at keeping me from going insane.” Keith rolled his eyes before messing up Pidge’s hair. 

 

“Sure man.” Then they started up a conversation. It was really weird since it didn’t go anywhere other than off in random directions about little things.

 

Luckily, it wasn’t long before Shiro showed up and almost tackled Pidge in their spaced out state. He had immediately picked them up when he could. Shiro gave them a kiss on their cheek and nuzzled against them.

 

“Oh my god, Pidge, you scared the life out of me. I was so scared that I even started crying and Pidge, I don’t like crying, it makes my eyes hurt!” Shiro kept nuzzling against Pidge until they reached up and held his head. He looked at them, his eyes red and wet with tears.

 

“You’re being hysterical, Takashi.” Pidge gave him a soft kiss to his lips, glad to not see the other version of him. “Calm down a bit so I can tell you what happened.” Shiro swallowed and nodded before slowly setting Pidge back down on the bench. “Are you calmed down enough?”

 

“Maybe… Could I have another kiss first?” Pidge snorted before giving him another soft one. “Okay, I’m better. Please tell me what happened.”

 

Pidge recounted the story, pulling up the note and showing him. After they asked Keith, they added Keith’s own input into it, letting him add his details as well as what Hunk had shared with him. Shiro listened intently and waited for the explanation to end. Lance came out at one point adding his own thing that Pidge and Keith both stared at him for before he just walked away. 

 

“Okay so the meeting at midnight is about a half hour away.” Shiro started, clearly trying to be smart on their time management since they’d already spent quite a while on just discussion. “We have to figure out where this Allura person is talking about.”

 

Once again, Lance happened to pop in seemingly out of nowhere. “Probably the one where me and Matt did cartwheels. It’s the only park you’ve been at recently and considering the way she was talking, it sounds like she knows where you’ve been and what you’ve done, more or less.” Pidge ignored the creepy aspect of someone watching their everyday life and just shrugged it off.

 

“Okay, so Allura is probably referring to that park since it’s almost always empty.” Pidge commented as they looked at the note before finally getting up from the bench. “Let’s head over there now.” Shiro already had a hold of Pidge’s arm as they started to head out. “Shiro, we need to go.”

 

“This Allura person is a complete stranger who left a note in your room somehow while it was locked and even made a comment about something even you don’t understand. How is it logical to just go straight there when Allura could very well be the reason why it’s happening?” He really didn’t want to put Pidge at risk by taking them to a stranger who was clearly creepy.

 

“Takashi,” he stiffened at Pidge’s voice, stern as it was, “I have no other choice. There is a likelihood that I will die from this, and I can feel that! If you won’t go with me, Keith sure as hell with.” Shiro looked back at Keith who merely nodded. “If it would make you feel better, we can all go. Power in numbers or whatever.” Shiro looked at Lance who had stayed this time and then at Keith, and lastly at Pidge. They had a stern look on their face. “If I have to, I’ll go without you.”

 

“No… I want to be there for you. I’m here for you, Pidge. You’re important to me and I wouldn’t want to be off to the side when you’re doing something so important. If you were getting surgery, I’d want to be there even if we weren’t dating, so of course I want to be there with you when you meet a stranger who may be able to help with these illusions.” Shiro was, again, on the edge of tears. Pidge gave him a soft smile, the sternness from their features gone as they gave him a peck on the lips.

 

“I know you want to be there, but can you let yourself? You’ve always been clearly protective to… almost too protective. You’re very cautious and that’s important, but remember that this is definitely the only way we can possibly figure out what is so aggressively affecting me.” A tear slipped down Shiro’s cheek, and Pidge wiped it off. “So you’re going to take me?”

 

“Of course, Pidge.”

 

“Then let’s go.” Pidge took his hand and quickly started dragging him with them. Keith and Lance watched before looking to each other. Lance took a moment to point at them and Keith nodded.

 

“They’re dating?” Lance hissed in a whisper to which Keith hit him Gibbs style.

 

“The only way Pidge brings another human in is if they’re interested in them. You remember the last time they brought someone?”

 

“Yeah, really pretty lady with platinum hair and tan skin, looked almost alien with her beauty.” Lance hummed before looking back to Keith. “I haven’t seen her since. Do you think she had somebody else?”

 

“Considering how Pidge stopped talking about her, I’d say something happened. She might’ve had somebody else or just wasn’t interested. Either way, we haven’t heard about her in a while and that’s that.” Keith pushed Lance towards his room. “Now, get in bed, mister beauty sleep.”

 

“Hey! Pidge is worth losing a bit of beauty sleep.”

 

“I’ll wake you up when they get back.”

 

“You need sleep too, dumbass.” Keith just rolled his eyes before stretching out on the bench.

 

“I’ll sleep here.” Lance huffed before heading back into his room.

 

“Try to not be such a smartass, Keith.”

 

\---

 

Pidge held their breath as they sat at the bench with Shiro. It wasn’t quite midnight yet since the park was relatively close to Pidge’s apartment. Shiro held an arm around their shoulders, pulling them closer.

 

“I kind of expected you both. Though, I’ll be honest, I thought Pidge was going to be here by themself.” Pidge looked up at the voice, all too familiar for their liking.

 

“Allura?”

 

“Wait, you know her?” Pidge nodded at Shiro’s question just before Allura cleared her throat.

 

“Before you ask way too many questions, yes Pidge knows me. Second, my name was on my note, Shiro. Don’t ask how I know your name, and no I did not stalk you, Pidge. We all know that I’m here to help, and try not to sound as creepy as possible. What’s important is that I’m not actually human, my platinum hair should’ve given it away, but humans tend to dye their hair a lot. It was absolutely annoying to cover up my real giveaways, but that’s the pain of being alien to this planet.” Allura waved her hand, the bright pink on her cheeks showing her alien nature clearer than the hair did. “Anyway, it’s a weird thing this witch pulled on a book you probably wound up with, and, long story short, I’m going to need that book.”

 

“Does the book hold the answers?” Allura hummed before answering Pidge.

 

“I believe it does, but I kind of have to see it to know.” Pidge shook their head, getting up from the bench.

 

“No. You’ll somehow fall victim to these illusions too. I can’t have that happening.”

 

“Would you rather I fall victim and possibly save you and your friends from them, or that you die before you can fix this?” Pidge’s eyes went wide, Shiro immediately holding their shoulders as they snarled at Allura.

 

“I’ll figure this out before it kills me! No one will stop me from figuring it out for me and my friends! No one!” Shiro pulled on their shoulders a bit, pulling them away from Allura who had backed up slightly from their yelling.

 

“You’d told me you’d be stubborn.” Allura huffed before coming over, her body getting taller until she was almost twice Shiro’s height. “Let’s do this the easy way.” Pidge was surprised by the bag that seemed to come out of nowhere that quickly caught both of them. “Maybe Coran will be able to figure out a way to get the book on his own.”

 

“Let us out!” Pidge shouted as Shiro quickly tried to think of a way out. 

 

“Pidge, relax.” Shiro hissed out, quickly holding onto them. They looked at him, eyes full of tears. “Hey, we’ll figure this out. Don’t worry.” Pidge sniffled before nodding. He pulled out his phone as Pidge curled up against his chest. He sent a text to Matt.

 

Shiro 00:15

get the book and take it to Keith and do not open it, whatever you do

 

Matt 00:16

what? what’s happening shiro?

 

Shiro 00:17

just get the book and take it to Pidge’s apartment complex, Keith is there and on the same floor as Pidge, get it to him please

 

Matt 00:18

okay?? fill me in when you can shiro

 

Shiro let out a quiet sigh as he huddled closer to Pidge. He had just wanted to get them the help they needed. Instead, he wound up with an alien who decided she knows what’s best for them and may possibly have terrible intentions. It could’ve gone a lot better.

 

“Takashi,” Shiro’s breathing stopped, “just don’t leave me, okay?”

 

“I won’t.” He tightened his grip around them, making sure that it would be near impossible to separate them. “I wouldn’t dare leave you, Pidge.”

 

\---

 

When they both woke back up, Shiro felt his arms immediately tighten around Pidge. He looked around due to the light that was in the room. Pidge groaned against him, barely awake. “What time is it, Takashi?”

 

“Time for us to figure out where the hell we are.” He was surprised by the decently comfortable bed that was beneath them; the bag they were in on the floor next to it. He quickly checked his phone and was surprised there was still service. Quickly, he checked the GPS part and saw that he was effectively in the middle of nowhere. Except, it was actually relatively close to their town.

 

“What are you doing, Takashi?” Pidge asked, trying to get a better look as to why his phone was out and what he was doing on it.

 

“Using this.” That was the extent of his response before he sent Keith his location and hid his phone away. “Hopefully, helping our situation.”

 

There didn’t seem to be any doors, but one of the walls opened up as Allura walked in. Shiro protectively held onto Pidge, almost hissing with his body language alone as Allura got closer. “Why do you think I’m going to hurt you?”

 

“You scooped us up in a bag and abducted us. What logical assumption wouldn’t end in danger?” Shiro spat out, Pidge surprised by the anger he was showing. They hadn’t ever seen him angry. “What do you even want?”

 

“Your cooperation, for one. It’s very difficult to get a hold of something that humans have tossed around as if it weren’t alien in its origin. The Galra have placed many secrets in that book and I imagine it will help us to squash their forces early on. I’ve already lost my father, who is to say a few more lives will bug me?”

 

Pidge squinted at her before leaning back against Shiro. “You’re not actually from this time, are you?” Allura looked genuinely impressed for a moment. “My guess is at least a thousands years in the future.”

 

“Close enough. Either way, my time I’m allowed to be here is an Earth year. Coran, the royal adviser, is in charge of overseeing my safe return. Preferably, only with the book in tow. If I have to, I will rip up your homes in order to find it so my own doesn’t end up destroyed.”

 

“Who says it is in any of our homes?” Shiro starts almost lazily, his body relaxing somewhat, but Pidge can still feel the tenseness in his core. “After all, it was at a bookstore. We may have sold it already. I’m not the only one who works there, and if it isn’t in the shop, then we must’ve sold it.” Allura’s eyes narrowed and Pidge felt a chill go through them.

 

“You’re lying.”

 

“Why do you say that?” Shiro kept his lazy stance, daring to make eye contact with Allura. “What reason would I have to lie? I know nothing about your world. For all I know, you could be lying.”

 

“For a moment, let’s pretend I’m lying. That I’m lying about knowing what is happening to you and your precious friends. That I don’t actually know how to help. Why would I have gone through the effort to leave a note while Pidge was unconscious?” Shiro felt his body stiffen and he found himself protectively holding Pidge.

 

“Stalking is a logical answer.” Allura nodded, but made an ‘x’ with her fingers. “You could’ve just approached them like a normal person.”

 

“I needed to reveal my alien nature so I can properly dispel the illusions set upon them.”

 

“But you’ve had no relations to any of the visions.” Pidge spoke up finally, a frown on their features. “If you know what’s happening to me, then what changes do I see to Shiro in the illusions? How young am I in them? Do I have my brother in them or not?” Allura’s eyes narrowed, clearly annoyed by the questions.

 

“He has a scar over his nose.” Allura started slowly, focusing for a moment. “A high tech prosthetic and he still has that white fluff but his hair is shorter. I wouldn’t be able to determine your age in them, other than younger than you are now. I do not know who your brother is so I can’t answer that one.” She waved her hand before starting to leave. “I’m done with these annoying questions. I will get the book and I will, if you willingly give me the book, help with these connections to another reality.”

 

Shiro watched with Pidge as Allura left the room. They’re quiet for a bit before Shiro almost collapses against Pidge. “Takashi?”

 

“We shouldn’t be here.” He mumbled, holding onto Pidge just a bit tighter. For a split second, they see the other version of Shiro, a clenching going through their chest.

 

“Something is wrong… Do you feel ill, Takashi?” He nodded weakly, letting Pidge support him. “As much as I hate to ask, she may be able to help with at least this.” He opened his eyes weakly and they pleaded for him. “I know you don’t trust her, but she could at least let you get some fresh air…”

 

“Fine.” He grumbled, starting to move until Pidge was trying to support him on their own. “I’m fine, Pidge.”

 

“You at least need some fresh air.” As soon as they’re standing, Pidge’s vision shifts to the other reality. Alarms are blaring in their ears and they see flashing red lights almost everywhere. The door opens, surprisingly, and they hobble along to a place Pidge isn’t sure of. They spare a glance at Shiro and see blood staining a white armor. Their hair stands on end and they realize they aren’t the same young person they were before in the other vision.

 

They finally got to a door and quickly opened it. In the vision, the land before them was burnt and there was conflict in the air above them. They stepped out, a roar going through the air before their eyes were assaulted with the light of day over a green field in their reality. About ten miles out, they could see a red motorcycle racing towards them.

 

Shiro took a deep breath before letting up off of Pidge. “It’s Keith. He got my text.” Shiro muttered before feeling his own consciousness on the edge of slipping. “Hopefully he’s here in a couple minutes. I think I’m going to pass out.” As if he heard him, there was a loud revving from Keith as he sped up. Pidge covered Shiro’s face as Keith skidded to a halt in front of them within a couple minutes.

 

“Get on, and fast.” Shiro struggled to get on, but Pidge pushed him against Keith who supported him with what he could. Pidge sat carefully behind Shiro, but wound up mostly depending on Shiro death grip on their legs as Keith sped off just as Allura came out of the building. They couldn’t hear her angry ramblings.

 

They sped down the road away from town, and Shiro seemed to fall away from his delirious state the further they got from Allura. He blinked as he was, once again, fully alert and his grip on Pidge’s thighs tightened. The dull pain that radiated from it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle, especially since they knew Shiro wouldn’t intentionally hurt them.

 

Keith finally slowed down as he saw the woods he’d driven through before. “Where are we going?” Shiro said loud enough against Keith’s ear. Pidge barely heard it as Keith kept driving fairly quickly.

 

“A hideout. Something me and Hunk had outfitted into a home away from the world. Just trust me, Shiro!” He finally shouted as he went a bit faster. His motorcycle easily handled it since he and Hunk had been working on making it capable of supporting Hunk’s weight on it as well. Luckily, Pidge and Shiro combined were still lighter than Hunk and his massive muscles and added fluff.

 

Pidge tightly wrapped their arms around Shiro now that he wasn’t on the edge of losing consciousness. He squeezed one of their thighs a bit tighter than he was holding them, and Pidge found a bit of relief in the action.

 

\---

 

Keith skidded to a halt, throwing up dirt as he arrived at a cave. Except, it wasn’t just any cave, it had a door. Pidge and Shiro both hesitantly got off the motorcycle as Keith urged them off. He walked his motorcycle to the door before looking at them with embarrassed features.

 

“Honey, I’m home!” He shouted and the door opened to the most worried face Pidge has ever seen Hunk make. Keith was picked up in one arm and the motorcycle supported with the other.

 

“I thought you’d die! First, Matt gave you the book and then Shiro gives you a location with little to no explanation and then Lance is trying to fill me in about what happened and I don’t want to even meet the witch to have abducted our friends because I am on the edge of fucking shit up!” Hunk somehow got all of that out in a single breath while holding Keith crushed against his chest and the motorcycle held carefully with one hand. “How are you two doing? I made some food if you’re hungry.”

 

Shiro looked at Pidge, noticing the shake in their legs as they clung to him. “A bit of food might be a good idea. I don’t think we were stuck in there for long since it’d seemed like she’d only just gotten a real taste for how we’d react. I’m more surprised we were able to just… leave. It was like the place knew Pidge and let them open whatever door they wanted.” Keith gave Pidge a glance that told them all they needed.

 

_ We need to talk. _

 

“Come on in. Matt was dragged with us by Lance. Ever since he heard you’d been in trouble he’s been almost constantly rambling. Lance has tried his best to calm him, but he mentioned something about your dad?” Pidge stiffened, still a bit weak on their legs as Shiro helped them hurry inside. Keith was finally set down and walked his motorcycle in before making sure to pull down the makeshift cover for their hideout. The door was shut firmly behind them and quickly secured.

 

Hunk led Pidge and Shiro further into the cave with the small candle that he carried to light the way. It was a short trek before they reached another door in a wooden wall. Hunk opened it and light poured out.

 

Inside, there was a big couch that was clearly made for pulling out and stretching out as a makeshift bed, a variety of electric light fixtures, a kitchenette towards the side that gave a wonderful smell, Matt and Lance on the couch, and a very basic home besides all those things. Pidge’s eyes, of course, immediately went to the enormous bookshelf that was filled with books. They dragged Shiro past Matt and Lance straight to it.

 

“Help me get to the very top shelf.” Pidge muttered and Shiro was picking them up. There a ladder on a track off to the side, but Pidge reached the book they wanted before having Shiro slowly lower them. They pressed a kiss to his cheek just before their feet hit the ground. “This book is similar to the one Allura wants.”

 

“How do you know that?” Lance immediately asked, finally letting Matt get up and go over to check that Pidge was okay. Other than their plain tank top and capris being a little bit messy, they were clearly fine. Their hair was a mess of length and clearly tangled. 

 

“Because I was very thorough in what I looked over in that book. I remember seeing distinct similarities in the beginning of that book with this book. Even the texture and what not are similar. The main difference is the embroidery and the author that I’ve found on both of them. This one is written by an Alfor something… and that other one was written by a Haggar something or other. Either way, if we give Allura the one that has Haggar as an author, I have a feeling something terrible will happen. I don’t think Allura is inherently evil, but this one is the one we should give her.”

 

Everyone stared at Pidge for a moment after they’d finished their explanation, Shiro having moved behind them so their voice wasn’t muffled by his body. He placed his hands on Pidge’s shoulders and looked over the others. Hunk seemed utterly confused, Keith seemed to just agree but wanted to get some kind of revenge clearly, Lance was also confused, and Matt was searching for something in Pidge’s expression. They kept their usual expression, stubborn as always.

 

“She won’t leave us alone until we give her a stupid book. That one is clearly more dangerous from what I’ve read and it took an awful long time to understand what this one in my hand meant. I couldn’t understand either one until these damn visions started.” Pidge groaned as they got another headache. “Stupid headaches…” Shiro’s arms moved to hold them more fully against him. “Can I still have some food?”

 

“Of course!” Hunk immediately piped up and went to grab them a plate of food. They were picked up by Shiro and taken to the couch, sitting between his legs as Hunk prepared their plate. They leaned back against Shiro’s chest and looked up at him. A weakness was clear in the way they moved.

 

“Takashi, I’m tired.” They muttered for only him to hear.

 

“Stay awake for me, sweetheart.” He muttered back just as quiet. “I didn’t hurt you earlier, did I?” They shook their head. “I didn’t mean to hold your legs so tightly.”

 

“It was just a little painful, but I know you won’t hurt me, Takashi.” Their eyes fluttered shut for a moment before Hunk was over with their plate.

 

“Eat up, Pidge! You need the energy.” He’d purposely been loud, aiming to wake them back up. It was successful with the way they jolted up.

 

“…Oh yeah, the food.” Pidge looked at it for a moment before Shiro was shifting them around somewhat.

 

“You have to eat.” They merely nodded before leaning forward and picking up one of the halves of grilled cheese sandwich that sat on the plate. It sprinkled some crumbs on the plate and floor before it made it to their mouth. In a small bowl next to it sat tomato soup. They registered that it was there and dipped the slightly dry grilled cheese into it.

 

The process was slow, but it was happening and that was all Shiro cared for. “You need to eat, too, Shiro.” He looked up at Keith who had another plate in his hand. He looked upset, but Shiro didn’t know why. “Pidge can get off your lap for you to eat.”

 

“No!” Shiro shouted before quickly correcting himself, sheepishly. “I-I mean, I don’t think it’d be necessary to move them for something so simple.” Pidge looked back at him, twisting themself in his lap to look him in the eyes before grabbing more of their grilled cheese and dipping it. Then they brought up to his lips.

 

“Eat.” Shiro looked at the food that seemed to be personally offending him, and sighed before taking a bite. Pidge did that for a while before letting Shiro just eat his own at his request. Shiro’s cheeks were red as he munched on his own, somewhat surprised when Pidge stole half of his other half.  “It’s to make up for what you ate of mine.”

 

Shiro gave a soft smile. “You could have the whole half if you want, Pidge.” Their eyes sparkled for a moment before they shoved it towards him.

 

“You need to eat. You were bleeding out- I mean, really tired earlier.” Shiro stiffened behind them.

 

“Bleeding out?”

 

“Takashi, please, just eat.” Tears had started to form in their eyes as they finished up what they had left.

 

“You can’t just say I was bleeding out, Pidge. What did you see while we were in that building?” He took their silence as an answer as the others stayed quiet around them. Hunk took their plate since they were done, and they curled up against Shiro’s chest.

 

“Eat.” They muttered quietly, holding on to his shirt. He listened and went about eating until he was finished. Hunk took his plate too and Pidge had buried their face against his chest. Everyone was quiet for a while before Shiro spoke back up.

 

“If you won’t tell me exactly what you saw, can you tell me how you felt as you carried me out of there?” Pidge tensed slightly before giving in.

 

“I was scared… No, I was absolutely frightened. I thought we were going to die on some alien planet and never ever get to save anyone. We’d lost so much, I don’t know how I knew, but I did. The alarms were the worst part. I couldn’t hear anything except the alarms and your labored breathing. I had to get you out of the castle. It finally happened and… then there was a roar and I saw our reality again. I can’t handle this information, Takashi. You were dying and the roar… Takashi, I can’t see you almost dying again. I can’t deal with the emotional toll I’m receiving from a world of ruins. That world is on the edge of being destroyed. I can’t handle that connection.” Shiro couldn’t help it as he quickly wrapped up Pidge in his arms. 

 

“Then we give Allura the book and we hopefully never see her again.” Shiro didn’t leave room for argument with the way he said it. “Pidge, are you sure that you want to give her this book?” They both looked at the book written by Alfor and Pidge nodded. They held it up before placing it on the table.

 

“This book should hold the answers she’s looking for.” Pidge looked towards Keith. “What do we do with the other book?” Keith took a moment before he realized they were actually asking him.

 

“Uh, well, I don’t know. It’s a powerful book and I haven’t opened it. It’s still in my satchel.” He patted the small bag on his hip, Pidge noticing the lack of a presence from it. “We could try to burn it?”

 

“Or I could read through it again and redact the parts that shouldn’t be read.” Shiro quickly responded with a firm tone.

 

“No. Pidge, you’re not going to put yourself in possible danger. It’d be better to try to burn it.” Pidge groaned as Shiro held on their frame protectively. “There’s no way to know what’ll happen if we burn it and there’s no way to know if you even can redact any of it. It’s better off locked away or lost. I prefer locked away, but there’s only so much you can do for that side of things. Right now, I just want to take this book to Allura.”

 

“I have to agree with Shiro on that.” Keith said nonchalantly. “She’s obviously obsessed with getting ‘the book,’ so let’s give her that book.” Pidge looked at him before looking at the pouch on his hip.

 

“You can’t bring that one.” Keith glanced at his hip before unclipping the bag from around his waist and setting it down.

 

“I won’t, but I’m not going to take it out of my bag. Guess I’ll need a different one to hold my knife.” Keith barely slipped his hand into the bag and Pidge tensed. He pulled out his knife and quickly sealed the bag back up. His knife was always something he held dear to him, after all. “Hunk, keep an eye out; I’m going to go get one of my other bags.”

 

Everyone watched as he disappeared out the front door. Hunk knew Keith had opted to lighting one of the candles for light rather than just going through in the dark. As Keith walked along the dark passage, Pidge got more tense. 

 

“Something’s going to happen, and I don’t like the feel of it.” They muttered as they slipped free of Shiro’s grip and bolted towards the door. Shiro quickly followed them, managing to grab them just before they opened the door. “I have to see if he’s okay, Takashi!” He took a short, tense moment before responding.

 

“ _ We _ have to see if he’s okay.” Shiro looked back and gave Matt a silent signal to watch over the book. Then, they quickly slipped out the door.

 

\---

 

Keith felt his skin crawl as he stalked his way down the corridor. He’d kept a hold of his knife and he couldn’t be more thankful for the weight of it in his hand. He heard the door behind him open, but he didn’t spare it a glance. He focused on getting to his motorcycle and his extra bags.

 

Just down the hall, he saw it and he hurried his feet along silently. It only took him a minute to get there and he was slightly relieved to be able to get one of the bags. They were easy enough to get, but something had him turning his head just in time to catch sight of and avoid a hand flying at the back of his head. 

 

“My, you really do just have a feel for combat, don’t you, Keith?” He looked up and down his opponent, unsure of who she was. “You were given the book, weren’t you?” Her voice dripped venom as they both got into more fitting stances.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He tried for a casual tone, feigning his ignorance. “All I see right now is someone trying to assault me.” She went for a grab to his throat, but he easily ducked and jabbed the handle of his weapon into her side. “I’m just defending myself.”

 

“Give me the book, Keith!” She swung a kick at him, and the battle was actually started. Keith easily maneuvered around her, avoiding most of her attacks. The others he’d block, and he kept a careful handle on his weapon. His ears picked up the sound of footsteps and he immediately took a large jump back, the candle left on the floor in it’s handy dish.

 

“I thought you would’ve been better at this.” He muttered nonchalantly which raised her temper. He was surprised by a sudden glow to her before her hands got around his neck and squeezed. Instincts had his hands at her wrists, clawing at them as he struggled to regulate his breathing.

 

“Allura! I have the book!” She didn’t let go of Keith as she looked at Pidge. Shiro was right behind them, eyes widening as he saw Keith.

 

“Give it to me and I’ll drop your friend. Hurry, before he suffocates.” Pidge was there within moments and offered the book by Alfor. Allura let her grip loosen enough for him to breathe. “You,” she looked at Shiro, “restrain this barbarian.” Shiro hesitantly wrapped his arms around Keith’s frame, and Allura let go. Shiro could feel Keith struggling against him, and Shiro couldn’t blame him.

 

The book was given to Allura and she nodded slowly before sprinkling something that shimmered bright blue on Pidge’s forehead. Pidge blinked a few times before they were crying. Allura wiped a tear from her cheek.

 

“Love your man, Shiro, and this will slowly be lost in your memories, Pidge. He is the cure you needed, with a bit of help from an outside source.” Allura walked out, clearly not expecting to be followed.

 

Pidge watched as Shiro let go of Keith who was immediately at Pidge’s side, checking that nothing was out of the ordinary. They looked up at Shiro, eyes wet with tears as he bent down to press a kiss to their forehead. Keith was satisfied with his short check up, even if it was down by candle light. 

 

“Let’s head back to the others; they’re probably worried.” Shiro picked up Pidge as Keith grabbed the candle again, leading the way back. In reality, Keith was more worried about getting back to a place he considered safe. Pidge nuzzled up close to Shiro again, slowly falling asleep to his heartbeat.

 

\---

 

They woke up on the couch, noticing that everyone was looking for something. “What are you guys looking for?” Pidge sat up slowly, rubbing at their eyes before anybody even looked at them.

 

“The book. Y’know the one that was in Keith’s bag?” Pidge frowned and tilted their head. “The one written by Haggar?” Pidge blinked a few times before nodding slowly. The memories were slow coming back to their conscious recollection.

 

“You don’t need to find it though, do you?” Everyone looked at them, taking a moment to think about it.

 

“No, I guess we don’t.” Lance mumbled. “Why were we looking for it, again?”

 

“So we could lock it away.” Shiro quickly supplied. “I guess it’s better lost for now.” A quiet pause in his speech, no one talking yet. “How’d you sleep, sweetheart?” Pidge yawned before shrugging.

 

“I would’ve slept better if you had stayed over here with me.” Shiro let a soft chuckle leave him before joining Pidge on the couch. He snuggled up to them and they had a smile on their face. “Better.”

 

“So are we just going to ignore this whole thing? It was all in less than a week. I need to know if it’s just going to be ignored so I can know whether to reopen my shop. I have books I need to ship out for the people who bought them online.” Pidge rolled their eyes.

 

“You can wait a day, Matt. Your bookstore isn’t going to be shut down all of a sudden.” Matt huffed before sitting on the couch as well. Lance quickly joined him, plopping down on the couch. Hunk quickly came over a smile on his face as he thought of a great idea.

 

“Why don’t we eat? I can make something for us all. I could make a simple stew pretty easily.” Hunk piped up, clearly excited about it. Everyone was clearly excited about that. He went back to the kitchenette, dragging Keith with him. Pidge curled up comfortably against Shiro, ignoring the way he kept shifting around beneath them.

 

Lance and Matt were casually talking while Hunk and Keith worked in the kitchen. Pidge looked around at them, enjoying the casual nature of them all. Even Shiro had relaxed behind them, gently holding them. A soreness was felt in their thighs from where Shiro had held onto them merely hours ago. The bruises would remind them of the strange three days as they healed up. 

 

Perhaps they’d recall the entirety of the events later, and find it to be so illogical that they’ll pretend it never happened. Yet, they know they’ll never forget how it felt to see Shiro dying. He didn’t, as far as they’re aware, but it was so frightening. They hope he lived in that reality.

 

\---

 

_ Pidge gasped as they finally got outside the castleship. Shiro was leaning heavily on them and gave short hurried breaths. “Katie, you have to leave me.” He urged quietly, wasting precious breath. _

 

_ “Hell no! You know I wouldn’t ever leave you behind!” There was a roar off in the distance. “Guess what? Green will get us out of here and you can’t tell me that won’t happen!” The giant robotic lion was there within moments, the sound of the others clashing in the sky caused Shiro to look up. “They’re not leaving you, and neither am I.”  _

 

_ “Thank you. I couldn’t ask for a better paladin to work alongside. All of you are so wonderful and you helped free me. I’m so glad you’re all here with me, even if that’s putting our lives on the line.” Pidge gave him a quick jab as they hobbled into the green lion’s jaws. “You know we won’t be able to get a healing pod, right?” _

 

_ “Yes, and that’s why I’m going to be performing emergency first aid on your dumb ass, Shiro.” They did their best to bandage him up. It stopped the bleeding and that’s what mattered to them. “Don’t you dare fucking die. Matt is going to patch you up at the rebel base, and you’re going to live so help me to last through this fight.” _

 

_ “Will you say it again, Pidge?” His breathing is still heavy but he’s keeping his eyes open for them. _

 

_ “Takashi, I’ll love you through eternity and even in my past and my future lives; enjoy my love for it’s what you deserve. You may be the black paladin right now and I the green paladin, but that won’t stop me from grieving your death, when it happens, with my heart and soul. Now, live for me, for you, for them, for us.” They had tears in their eyes as they gently stroked his cheek. “Stay awake and live.” _

  
_ “Okay…” His voice was weak but he kept his eyes focused on them as they cried. His helmet was on the floor, but Pidge kept theirs on. “I’ll live for us.” _


End file.
